The Black Cat
by AmandaArtiste
Summary: The Mighty Ducks discover two new ducks on Earth, only...they're mutants. The Saurians learn the identity of The Black Cat and just how did Tanya know Lucritia Decoy when no one else did? Tanya & Duke.
1. Born Different

I don't own any of the original Mighty Ducks characters. The Might Ducks Animated Series does though. Um, the characters of The Pride, the thought of Tanya being 'The Black Cat', Premnitia, Jazz, Natalie, Sandy, and Desiree are all mine though. Along with any other characters you see that weren't in the series. So don't plagiarize or sue me. If you wanna print out my stories for your own reading pleasure, that's fine. I do like to receive credit for my work though. It ain't as easy as I might make it look. LOL. ^_^ Happy reading!

The Black Cat

Part One: Born Different

Tanya had finally drifted off to sleep that night. She was always the last one to catch some shut eye. Well, unless Duke was up for some nocturnal activity, no one really knew or cared to know where he was always disappearing to.

In her sleep she saw herself twelve years younger, it was then that she realized this would be more of a memory than a dream…

Tossing and turning in her sleep, young Tanya thrashed around trying to fight back the pain that she felt at her fingertips. She clutched her pillow desperately. Screaming in her sleep. Whatever was happening---it hurt!

Her parents heard her screams from their bedroom and rushed down the hall. "Tanya!" her mother called.

The screams didn't die down, Tanya's eyes flew open. She was fully aware of her pain and it's source now. She stared down at her hands, holding them up in the moonlight that fell just before her beak.

Her fingertips were bloody. Something was beneath all that blood. She strained her vision to see. It was gleaming in the light. Whatever it was, it was shiny, almost metallic but it didn't feel cold like steel or anything. Her parents were at her door. She always kept it locked. Even at such a young age, Tanya was fond of her privacy.

"Tanya-" her father called, twisting the doorknob frantically, "-did you have a bad dream? Open the door honey."

Tanya got up to do as he requested, flipping on the lamp by her bed as she did so. She shrieked as her eyes began to burn and water. She staggered over to the door, a mirror hung on the back. Opening her eyes she gazed at her reflection. Something was off…WAY off!

Her pupils, they were nothing but thin slits in her pale blue irises. The feathers around her hands and feet were black and---furry?! She opened her beak to say something to her parents but found her voice was raspy, almost indistinguishable. Her own parents would have trouble recognizing her in this form! That realization was what tempted her to keep the door closed. 

"Tanya!" her mother begged, "Let us in! Are you hurt?"

Looking at her webbed toes, which were no longer webbed, and her fingers she finally noted the claws that sprang forth. They were retractable. With a sigh Tanya climbed back into bed, she waited there as her parents pounded on the door. Finally she felt the changes fade and she shifted back into her fully duck form. Tears rolled down the young duck's cheeks. She got up and unlocked the door.

"Tanya!" her mother gasped, clutching her distraught daughter tightly, "Are you okay? What's wrong sweetie?"

"I had a nightmare." Tanya whispered, wishing that it were so. She had been wide awake for the whole painful transformation and she knew it!

Tanya's father knelt down and stroked her short blonde hair gently, "Alright then, why don't you try to get some sleep. Things will be okay, we're here." he kissed her forehead and with a nod Tanya turned and climbed back into bed.

Her parents lingered a moment and then returned to their bedroom. Tanya stared at the doorway a moment longer. Tears filling her eyes. She got up and slammed the door shut, locking it…but for a different reason this time.

What are harsh realization---discovering she was a mutant!

******

"Tanya?" A voice called softly from above her.

Tanya, no longer a frightened little girl but a full grown woman, opened her eyes and struggled to clear her vision. "Duke? How'd you get in here?"

"I--uh--kinda let myself in." he grinned, holding up a pick.

Tanya sat up, trying to suppress the memory of her dream. "Oh, well, why'd you break in?"

"Didn't wanna upset you more," Duke replied with a worried gaze, "sounded like you were having one heck of a nightmare in here."

Her eyes took on a saddened expression, "It wasn't a nightmare," Tanya admitted, "it was a memory I've been suppressing."

Not wanting to talk about it anymore Tanya laid back down on her bed, turning away from the one eyed duck staring down at her.

"Oh, well that's okay kid," Duke took the hint, "whenever you're ready to talk about that memory though, I'm here for ya." He placed a gray feathered hand on Tanya's shoulder and turned around, leaving the room.

Alone in her dark room Tanya sighed, "He calls me kid like I'm some kinda immature hatchling, or worse, NOSEDIVE!" with a groan she turned over and gazed out at her room, even though the lights were off she could see everything clearly, even better than when things were lit and she had on her glasses (which she didn't really need).

"Well Duke l'Orange, if you think all there is to me is some blonde scientist that repairs weapons and occasionally blows something up…you've got another think comin'."

******

Halfway across Anaheim, the Saurian ship of Dragonus rested disguised as a bakery. Inside no one was getting any sleep. The slimy lizards skulked about, moaning over the fact that neither of them was getting any sleep and all because of some back up plan their leader had.

"So Siege ol' buddy ol' pal," the Chameleon began in his usual whiny tone, "what's the boss cooked up for them ducks this time?"

The bulking red lizard in crimson armor turned to the small green one in the dark green leotard, "Have you idiots forgotten what Dragonus sent them Rexspur spies out to do once he met up with the Resistance on Puckworld?"

Chameleon turned to the ghostly lizard hovering next to him, the bony mystic just shrugged, "Wasn't it the Rexspur spies that were supposed to seek out young Puckworlders with 'special' gifts that could be used in the event that something went wrong with the invasion?"

"Exactly," Siege grunted to Wraith, "and since things DID go wrong we're gonna call in the Rexspurs to deliver those brats so that we can use them to crush the ducks."

"But why did we wait so long?" the Chameleon questioned, "Those ducks have been getting under our scales for nearly two years!"

"BECAUSE THE REXSPURS HAVE TO GATHER UP MORE THAN FIFTY BRATS OF OVER TWENTY DIFFERENT SPECIES!" a deep, scowling voice boomed from the entrance to the control room.

"Oh, hi ya boss," Chameleon cringed. 

"But I thought you said that the Rexspurs were only to extract mutant ducks?" Wraith insisted.

"There weren't enough," Dragonus growled, "only two were discovered. The Rexspurs will retrieve them and transport them to us shortly, along with the other brats from across the galaxy. So prepare that new transporter, NOW!"

"B-but boss," the Chameleon squeaked, "wouldn't it be easier just to open a dimensional gateway for the Rexspur ship to pass through?"

Dragonus turned and glared down at his lackey, smoke pouring out of his nostrils, "Those wretched ducks DESTROYED our dimensional gateway months ago!"

"Oh," the Chameleon's teeth chattered as he recalled the battle that had sent the Raptor plummeting into the sea, "right."

Dragonus turned and skulked out of the room, leaving his 'crew' to finish their work on the transport. 

"Nice going ya fink." Siege snarled.

"I guess this means I won't be getting that bonus around Christmas," the Chameleon sighed.

******

Another universe away there was the small planet of the Mighty Ducks, Puckworld. Spinning in it's orbit with temperatures nearly always at or below the freezing point. It was snowing again. Young Puckworlders were slipping and sliding on the ice enjoying of the most time honored past times of the planet---hockey.

They youngsters were just outside the orphanage where another young Puckworlder was sleeping on the top story.

Jazz Billeres yawned as she sat up in her bed, the game had been going on for hours, it was a wonder that Ms. Drakelot hadn't drug them inside by the collars of their uniforms yet.

"Hey Jazz!" a little drake called from just below the blonde duck's window. A pair of emerald green eyes and a brown striped beak greeted him, "What is it Deadringer?"

"Come down here right and help us out would ya?" he called, tilting his head back so far that he nearly toppled over into the snow bank behind him, "We need to score!"

Jazz sighed and rested her elbows on the windowsill. "I'm tired man, call it a tie and go get some sleep, it's 2 A.M."

The young duckling laughed, "Yeah, wonder what's got Ms. Drakelot by the tail feathers? She shoulda been out here hours ago to hassle us."

Jazz smiled down at her 'little brother', she considered all the other orphans her family. In all actuality she had no clue where her real family was. They had been pronounced dead by the authorities, Jazz knew better…

She'd been over two years younger when it happened. Her parents were out driving, they had never come back. Sirens were blaring at the end of her street, she'd walked out onto the front porch, sensed something was wrong, and fled towards the chaotic scene.

Upon reaching the scene she saw her mother and father lying lifeless in the snow. Tears stung in her eyes. She hadn't been allowed to approach them, they were pronounced dead and rapidly rushed to a morgue. At the funeral there was something strange about the coffins, they'd been padlocked.

In an act of what might be thought of as insanity, Jazz had snuck away from the orphanage and unburied the coffins of her parents. Using the shovel to crack open the lock, she opened the lid, a little hesitantly and full of apologetic grief, only to have her suspicions confirmed, empty!

Since that time the Saurians had invaded and left the city in ruins. Jazz was stuck in an orphanage with no idea of where her parents were, but she was certain that they were alive. Over two years later Jazz had still not given up her search, and she was less than a year from the eighteen mark when she would be free to leave the orphanage and make it on her own. The city had rebuilt itself wonderfully and things were almost back to normal, but that would all change very soon…for two unlucky Puckworlders.

Across the street Jazz's best friend Premnitia was coming her long raven colored hair. She sighed at the gray feathered duck in the mirror with the sad dark brown eyes. "I'll find you," she swore.

Premnitia too had lost her parents and mysteriously, their deaths proved to be hoaxes too. Her mother and father were attending a conference concerning negotiations with trade and other such matters when it grew late and Premnitia had wondered out onto the front porch to keep an eye out for them. They never came home.

She shut her eyes tight against the memories that came flooding back to her. About two years ago, she was a junior in high school and a promising student of the famous Ti Quack Doe. It was snowing, and getting colder, she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders securely. "Mom? Dad?"

A figure did step out of the vehicle in her driveway, but the person had been of no relation to her. It was her piano teacher Ms. Featherfelt. The middle aged woman had a grave look etched across her tan feathers. Premnitia didn't need to be told, the weight of her parents death lingered in the air, but something was odd about it.

"Where are they?!" Premnitia had demanded of the officer that accompanied Ms. Featherfelt.

"I'm sorry young lady but the morgue is a place that's not fit for children," the officer had tried to explain.

Dark shadows fell on Premnitia's face from her long bangs, 'children?!' she hated being referred to as a child! "Let me see my parents!" she ordered through clenched teeth.

"Premnitia," Ms. Featherfelt had said in a comforting tone that she had never used before, "maybe you should sit down for a moment while I discuss a few things with this officer?"

Premnitia was about to object but it hit her that she could slip past into the morgue if the officer was busy talking. "Alright." 

Her plan had worked, while the 'adults' were talking she slipped quietly into the morgue and found the stretchers with her parents lying on them. An identification tag on each ankle. "Mom, Dad…" tears had trickled down her cheeks.

She knew what she needed to do next, she had to see them, to say goodbye. With a great deal of hesitation she yanked back the sheets. Her heart went to her throat as she beheld the two ducks responsible for bringing her into the world. Premnitia's hand rested upon her mother's that was lying on her chest. While she clutched her mother's hand something caught the young duck's attention. Movement.

Gazing down at her mother's chest she saw it gently rise and fall. Turning to her father she noticed the same thing. "You're alive??" she'd gasped.

Someone had entered the room then, Premnitia ducked beneath a third stretcher. Voices grumbled inside the morgue. "What are we supposed to do with these stiffs?"

"They haven't expired you idiot." another voice hissed, "Take them out of town, same place you took the other two, explain to them very carefully what will happen to their precious daughter if they don't cooperate and keep their distance."

Anger, fear, sickness. This was awful! But what could she do? Her parents where being wheeled out before her very eyes and there was no way she could take on the bulky males she saw from peeking out beneath the sheet. Helplessly, she watched them go. At least they would be safe--that is--as long as they were far away from her. A twinge of guilt hit the poor girl. Somehow, this was all her fault.

The memories hurt, leaving tears in her eyes. Premnitia had blamed herself for the longest time, but time had made her realize that it was not her doing, whoever those ducks had been working for, it was their fault! 

She had fought off nearly all thoughts of vengeance, more than anything, she just wanted to see her parents.

Wondering out into the street she saw her friend, Jazz, emerge from the orphanage in her classic way, by jumping out the window and sliding down the drainpipe. "Hey hotshot!" she called, "You're gonna fall and break your neck!"

Jazz landed gracefully and shot her friend an challenging grin. "And what are you doing out so late? Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"No, I'm a night person anyways." Premnitia smiled. She had become friends with Jazz out of habit mostly, living across the street from her, seeing her at school, and finally, obtaining a job with her (being in the same rock band).

"Well I'm a hockey person," Jazz retorted, slinging her a hockey stick, "so let's PLAY!"

With a smirk and a shrug, Premnitia joined in on the opposite team. It was gonna be one heck of a game!

________________________________________________________________________

*And this is the second Mighty Ducks story that I've been working on. It's the fiction which will start off my line of Mighty Ducks fan fictions. There WILL be sequels to this. Please read and review.*


	2. Challenging Lives

The Black Cat

Part Two: Challenging Lives

Ruby Dunshap stepped out onto the icy street in Puckworld. As usual, children were out playing hockey in front of the orphanage owned and run by Ms. Drakelot. It had taken a lot of persuasive talk to convince the elderly duck that Jazz Billeres needed to speak with her. Only Ruby knew the secret behind the young duck's abilities. And the danger that awaited the poor girl was drawing nearer.

Soft piano music filled the air. The intoxicating melody came from the window of Ms. Featherfelt. Her young prodigy and foster child, Premnitia, was at the keyboard practicing. Ruby needed to speak with this teenager as well.

She made up her mind to take them both back to the Pride's lair. They'd be safe there and could speak freely. No outsider had been permitted to enter that lair for over a year now. It was important to make an exception for these two though, mutants were always welcome.

"Mrs. Dunshap," an elderly duck with gray feathers and white hair greeted the scientist, "come in dear. You must be chilled to the bone. Jazz is up in her room playing that electric guitar of hers. She'll be down in a minute…if she doesn't bring the roof down on us first."

Ruby smiled and took a seat on the sofa, "Actually, I was hoping to take Jazz and her friend Premnitia out for a while. We could chat and go on a walk. I think it would make it easier for us to chat if we had some time alone. I'll give you my cell phone number so you can call us should you need to."

"Well," Ms. Drakelot was the overprotective sort, but then again, Jazz was one to go off on her own anyway, "I suppose it's alright. Just this once."

"Understood," Ruby nodded, "I have a young one of my own. I understand how much you must worry about these kids."

"Jazz is in the house!" a young blonde duck announced as she slid down the banister.

Ms. Drakelot nodded, "I worry about SOME of my kids more than others."

"Kids?" Jazz repeated, "Don't tell me you still think of me as a kid?! I'm almost 18!"

"Act your age dear and I might treat you accordingly." Ms. Drakelot answered.

Jazz just huffed and turned to Ruby, "And what's your deal ma'am?"

"Ma'am?" Ruby repeated, "Now I do feel old. I'm here to take you and Premnitia out for a walk. I think I might have some information that you'd be interested in learning."

"Really?" Jazz asked skeptically. "Then why can't you tell me here?"

"It's---private." Ruby answered.

Jazz eyed the woman suspiciously for a moment, something about this strange woman was intriguing. Admittedly, she wanted to go with her. If only out of curiosity.

"Okay, I'll bite. Let's go." Jazz grabbed a jacket off the coat rack and followed Ruby out the door.

"By the way," the red headed woman smiled, "my name's Ruby Dunshap."

"Jazz Billeres," Jazz answered, "but you already knew that."

Ruby smiled and knocked on the door of Ms. Featherfelt. "Now to collect your friend."

"Hello? May I help you?" a young gray duck with black hair answered.

Ruby introduced herself and Jazz waved to her friend. "I'll just go tell Ms. Featherfelt I'm going." Premnitia said uneasily and went back inside.

A few minutes later she came back out and followed Ruby and her friend back to her vehicle.

******

Tanya was in her lab working on new plans for the Migrator. She was trying to figure out how to improve the weapons it already sported without creating another Monster Truck Rally incident. That had a few of the ducks steamed at her for a while. Sheesh, even scientists should be allowed to make mistakes! 

The blueprints were coming along nicely when she heard a tap on the door.

"Come in," she called carelessly.

Mallory McMallard, entered the room. She had become one of Tanya's best friends during their mission to capture Dragonus. "Hey ya Tanya," she said cheerfully, "how've ya been?"

"Busy," Tanya answered without looking up, "but I think I've finally worked out the bugs."

"That's nice." Mallory replied absently, machines weren't really her thing.

"Phil isn't up to more of his publicity stunts is he?" Tanya asked.

"Not yet," Mallory laughed, "he's been surprisingly quiet about that stuff lately…and that's what worries me."

Tanya chuckled as she finished the blueprints. "Well, all that's left is to assemble the new weapons, install them on the Migrator, and try em out!"

"Just don't let Duke or Nosedive be the ones to test run them." Mallory joked, "You know those two. Always out to wreck something."

"Yeah," Tanya grinned, "they may be years apart, but sometimes they both act like children with a new toy."

"Boys," Mallory laughed, "what would they do without us?"

"Psh, do we really wanna know?" Tanya rolled up the blueprints and faced her friend, "So, got any plans for tonight? With Dragonus laying low patrolling really isn't doing much good."

"I'm taking Wildwing out shopping."

Tanya laughed, "How'd ya get him to agree to that?"

"Hey! I have an excellent sense of style, and that guy _needs_ some new clothes. Have you seen his evening wear?" Mallory responded.

"Just as long as it's him and not me." Tanya grinned.

"You just wait Tanya Vanderflock," Mallory teased, "I'll get you in a dress yet!"

"Umpth, yeah, sure." Tanya snickered, "And Phil will win the lottery and retire RICH!"

Mallory shook her head and left the lab. Tanya was so stubborn sometimes. At least she had shopping with Wing to look forward to.

Once Mallory left Tanya turned back to cleaning up the supplies on her counter. She pulled out a supply drawer and felt a sudden twinge of pain shoot up her arm. Looking down she saw that her fingers had involuntarily curled. 

"Oh no, not again. Not now!" she begged herself. But it was no use. A mutant could only suppress their powers for so long. And Tanya had been suppressing hers for over a year!

The pain continued into the other arm. Soon her legs were affected too. It was happening, and Tanya was powerless to stop it.

In a matter of seconds the transformation was complete. Tanya Vanderflock reluctantly staggered over to the freezer on the tips of her furry feet. Anguish filled her heart as she beheld her hybrid image. Half cat, half duck. 

The black fur covered her hands and feet. Claws were now visible and fangs protruded from beneath her beak. She removed her glasses and stared at the thin slits which were her pupils as they glistened in the florescent light.

Her voice was a bit raspy but she knew that would change after a few minutes. Her black furry ears stuck out from the sides of her hair.

For a moment she could envision the black mask across her face and the black spandex that she'd worn on Puckworld. And in that brief moment she was once again…The Black Cat.

________________________________________________________________________

*Sorry it took so long for me to update this story. I'll try to post for it more often. Please review, no flames. Thanks.*


	3. A Purrfect Encounter

The Black Cat

Part Three: A Purrfect Encounter

Emery Drakestone and Amore Heartthrob sat in the center of the Pride's lair playing Amore's favorite card game…poker.

"HA!" Amore, a woman about Ruby's age exclaimed as she laid out her cards before the rookie of the gang, who was a little older than the two approaching teenagers. "Royal flush! Beat that honey."

Emery rolled her eyes and laid down her hand, "A pair of twos. You win. AGAIN."

"I see you two are hard at work as always." Ruby teased, sneaking up behind the pair.

"Ruby," Amore smiled, "nice to see you out and about. Between work and that family of yours we hardly ever get to see ya anymore."

"How's married life treating you?" Ruby asked casually as she led the two girls to the table.

"Alright I guess," Amore smiled, "I did marry a Brotherhood member, so it's not all that dull."

"This here's Amore," Ruby introduced the girls to the women, "she's the resident heartbreaker of the gang, or at least she was, up until a few months back when she married Brink Slapshot."

"I'm Emery Drakestone," the white feathered duck with black hair smiled. Her green eyes explained her name. They were stunning, like emeralds.

"As you may have guessed," Ruby grinned to the two women, "I've brought these two here because, like us, they have special _gifts_."

"Like what?" Emery turned to the two girls who were suspiciously glancing around the dark room.

"Premnitia Quackcast possesses telepathy and telekinesis," Ruby explained, "she also has the power to alter weather and forms of matter."

"Wow," Amore grinned, "that would've come in handy back when we were still pulling off heists."

Jazz and Premnitia shot Ruby a questioning glance. They had not come all this way to join thieves. They wanted answers, and Ruby had promised them.

"We no longer need to commit crimes." Ruby explained, "Part of our cat mutation enhanced our aggression. It was stealing highly valuable jewels and attacking trained security guards, OR holding it all in until we involuntarily lashed out on some poor civilian."

"There's a dark side to every mutation," Emery sighed. "But once a cat mutant finds her _cure_ she can suppress her mutation forever if she wishes. It doesn't show up in our genes for some reason, yet…we all have a counterpart from Felonia."

"Felonia?" Jazz questioned.

"A realm like the one Puckworld is in. Only cats are the predominant species, not ducks. Each member of the Pride has a counterpart of the cat species in Felonia. They're like sisters." Ruby explained.

"So how'd you find out about them?" Premnitia inquired.

"We didn't." Amore laughed, "They found out about us!"

"We sort of bumped into each other a while back. When Tanya and I were twelve or so." Ruby smiled, "Tanya Vanderflock, my best friend, left with the team to pursue Dragonus."

"So did you just take us here to discuss mutations or are you gonna fill us in on what happened to our parents?" Jazz demanded.

"Who's the firecracker?" Amore smirked.

"This is Jazz Billeres," Ruby motioned towards the sulking duck, "she possesses super speed and a photogenic memory. She's quite good with technology and retains vast amounts of knowledge."

"Sounds like a younger version of Tawny." Emery chuckled, "Maybe she'll grow up to be a hacker too?"

Jazz didn't say a word. Premnitia was laughing because she knew about all the _alterations_ Jazz has secretly made using her computer knowledge.

"So how do you know all these things about us?" Premnitia could have just probed their brains for the answer but she didn't like to violate privacy and disrupt oras. Besides, her powers of mind reading weren't quite perfected yet.

"We know a lot of things. Even those that you keep concealed from your loved ones." Ruby answered, "In short, it takes a mutant to spot a mutant."

"And what do you mutants want with us?" Jazz asked again.

"You came seeking answers right?" Ruby smiled to the other two Pride members, "Well, we've taken care of things for you. Now you'll have your answers and-"

A door slid open behind them allowing four figures to emerge. "-your families." Ruby finished proudly.

Premnitia and Jazz couldn't believe their eyes. "No way," Jazz muttered staring into her mother's teary eyes.

It was too much like a dream for Premnitia, yet it was real. Her father and mother standing just feet away with outstretched arms. "How?"

"We have connections." Amore blew the backs of her nails.

"To be more exact," Ruby added, "we have members that can obtain top secret military information. It seems that traitors in high ranking positions on this planet conspired with Dragonus to obtain certain potential mutants to serve as warriors for the Saurians should a Puckworld strike force rise up against them."

"They'd never be able to shoot down our own, especially if they were only children." Emery shook her head in disgust. 

"The traitors helped separate you from your families to make it easier for Dragonus's henchmen to obtain you should his conquest of Puckworld fail. And since it has…" Amore's voice took on a warning tone, "that lizard will send for you two soon."

Jazz had already rushed into her parents' arms. "MOM! DAD! Oh my gosh, where've you been?"

Jazz's mother held her daughter tightly, "Oh sweetie! I wanted to come for you! I hated leaving you here. But if we didn't stay in Mallardsburg those traitors would've had you killed."

"Why?" Jazz cried, a part of her had died the day she'd lost the two people she cared about the most.

"Because the Saurians would surely fail if mutants sided with the Resistance." Ruby responded, "And that's exactly what you must do."

"You can't expect us to leave now," Premnitia exclaimed, her arms flung tightly around her father as her mother brushed her bangs out of her eyes, "we've just found our parents! Let the Resistance deal with Dragonus, I'm going after those traitors!"

"They've been dealt with," Emery grinned devilishly, "Aside from facing life in prison for treason, attempted murder, and kidnapping, those creeps will be spending some serious time in the intensive care unit."

All three Pride members flashed their fangs and claws. "No one gets away with torturing mutants while the Pride's around." Amore laughed.

"A mutant," Jazz's dad smiled down at his little girl, "that certainly explains a lot."

Tears were still rolling down her face, "If the Saurians are still out there and sending someone after us, you guys could still be in trouble."

"Which is why you must go on living your lives as if none of this has happened." Ruby stated. "If you don't wish to endanger all your lives then this meeting NEVER took place. We've done this to prove our loyalty. Now I'm asking you to join the Resistance."

Both young ducks spun around to protest but Ruby cut them off, "Despite our best efforts there is still no telling where and when Dragonus will strike. It's almost certain that both of you will be captured and taken to a planet called Earth. It's in a different universe but the good news is that the Resistance is there. If you can escape Dragonus and locate Tanya she'll see to it that you're made part of the Resistance and return home with them as soon as the mission is completed."

"Wait a minute!" Jazz shouted, "They've been on that stupid mission for over a year now! Just when are they coming home?!"

"If they had the aid of two mutants it might help them complete their mission sooner. Dragonus has just recently repaired his gateway generator," Emery spoke up.

"And just how do you know all this?" Premnitia asked. "No one's been able to make contact with the Resistance, and they certainly don't have a gateway generator of their own!"

"Girls please," Premnitia's mom begged, "these women are only trying to help. They've reunited us at great personal risk."

"It's alright," Ruby assured her, "we know because of Felonia. Since we Pride mutants all have counterparts there we can enter their realm through the use of these linking jewels." Ruby pushed up her sleeves and held out her hands revealing a long gem dangling on the end of each gold bracelet. "These don't allow us to travel anywhere except either Felonia or the place from which we transport to get there. We're only half cat you know."

"We relay information through our counterparts or sometimes we're able to meet with Tanya there. Sadly, she can't cross over into Puckworld because she's transported from Earth." Amore said seriously, "That's how we know about the Resistance and their status. But Tanya's been suppressing her powers for a long time now. It won't be long before she loses control of her transformations. She won't regain it until she makes full use of her abilities again."

"And you want us to seek her out?" Premnitia questioned.

"Sounds like a mission impossible to me." Jazz murmured.

"If you won't do it for us," Ruby begged, genuinely concerned about the safety of these two vulnerable teenagers, "then do it for your families. And for yourselves."

"She's right," Premnitia's father spoke wisely, "you deserve better than this Prem. If the people see you fighting for them they might come to realize that mutants aren't to be feared and persecuted."

"I want what's best for you Jazz," Jazz's mother squeezed her daughter tightly, "please do as Ruby says. It's only for a short while and when you come back, we can finally be a family again."

Jazz and Premnitia exchanged looks, neither wanted to go through with this but even the mysterious Pride couldn't protect them from Dragonus. Not forever. No one could. They had to save themselves. Maybe this Tanya would help them. Did they really have a choice?

******

Evening fell on the city of Anaheim back on Earth. It was a beautiful crimson sky. Tanya stared up at it through a black mask. _Just a few more minutes…_she thought as she watched the sun set.

It hadn't been hard to dig her costume out of the hidden compartment in her room. She didn't really figure that the other ducks would pry into her stuff so she left her jewel bracelets in her nightstand drawer.

Everything fit perfectly. Not that she'd expected any less. She'd been the same weight and height since she'd turned seventeen. Her baggy clothing and false glasses hid her feminine features though. No one would ever expect a nerdy little scientist to be the mysterious, slender, and cunning Black Cat.

Stretching out she decided to test her agility. Just to make sure that she still had that special stealth that she had come to rely on when she became leader of the Pride. As she darted from rooftop to rooftop, leaping over chain link fences with ease, her thoughts began to wander back to her gang.

She missed Ruby Dunshap, her best friend and lab partner, terribly. They had been the first cat-duck hybrids to physically alter their forms. It had been a terrifying experience for them both. But fate had brought them crashing into each other one night and ever since they had been the best of friends.

Two years before Dragonus had attacked Puckworld, Ruby had found her _cure_. Now she could choose whether or not she would ever shift into her cat-duck hybrid form, ever again.

Love had done it for Ruby. One day she was unable to suppress her powers for more than a month and the next she could control the aggression, the shape shifting, and the instincts for the rest of her life. It was an odd feeling that started overtaking all of the Pride's members as they found the one life altering change which overtook their unmanageable powers. This change became known as the _cure_.

Tanya had gone out of her way to help the members, all 72, find their cures. And in the span of two years each and every member was cured…except Tanya.

It wasn't just the obligation of being leader that made Tanya want to help the other members, but the fact that the Pride itself had become a close knit group of friends. For some reason all the mutants of their breed were female and close to the same age. That made it easy for them to bond.

Once the members discovered that Tanya was the only one who hadn't discovered her cure they each set out to help her. They tried each and every cure that had worked for them. Dream jobs, unachievable goals that suddenly became reachable, and even love.

Tanya wasn't one to throw herself at anyone. Then…there came an odd night out on the town when she and Ruby were patrolling for crime (another means of satisfying their aggressiveness). The Brotherhood (who to this date weren't aware of the Pride's existence) were out on a heist.

Their leader, Duke L'Orange, swung into an alleyway and pulled the black velvet sheet off from over their newest prize. A large diamond glistened in the pale moonlight. Tanya and Ruby had merely yawned at the sight. It wasn't the jewels that enticed them, but the danger of stealing them.

Then Tanya had noticed an odd movement by one of the members. He stood away from the small crowd of thieves. He was reaching for his sidearm.

"What's he up to?" Tanya had thought aloud.

Ruby followed her friend's gaze, "Isn't that one Falcone? I heard he's jealous of Duke."

"Looks like he might be ready to do him in," Tanya whispered as she hopped up on the ledge. 

"What are you doing?" Ruby hissed.

"We can't just sit here and let him get killed!" Tanya hissed back.

"You're risking your life!" Ruby reminded her, "This isn't some struggle between a purse snatcher and an elderly old lady. This is two thieves battling for the title of Greatest Thief of All!"

"But that guy's sneaking up on him!"

"He knew it was a dangerous job when he took it!"

Before Ruby could protest further Tanya drew a dagger and sent it flying into Falcone's hand. The dagger was right on target and Falcone dropped his weapon just before pulling the trigger.

The Brotherhood members spun around. "And just what are ya up too back there?" Duke had demanded of Falcone.

"Oh, Duke old boy, just--uh--keeping an _eye_ out for the police." Falcone had lied.

"I'll bet," Duke scooped up the gun and placed it in a large pouch on his belt, "and I DON'T appreciate the pun." 

Ruby had just stared at Tanya's admiring smile in disbelief, "You've got to be kidding me," she'd muttered.

"What?" 

"You like him, don't you?"

"Who?"

"Duke L'Orange." Ruby smirked.

"HIM?!" Tanya gasped, "N--well--umpth--you know, I DUNNO!"

"Well there he is," Ruby'd chuckled, "your cure. It's gonna take something just as drastic to cure you as it did me, love."

Tanya had already hopped off the ledge. She would later consent to join up with the Resistance solely because of the Pride's insistence that she pursue her cure.

These were fond memories now. Duke had certainly turned out to be a dead end cure. He still called her 'kid' and hardly spoke two words to her that didn't have to do with repairing his saber or taking down Dragonus. He was a lady's man alright, and that was another problem. He'd even put the moves on Lucritia Decoy. Never mind that the traitor had tied Tanya to the scoreboard above the Pond.

Still, Tanya loved Duke, she knew she did now. Despite all his cockiness and vanity. He was a skilled swordsman with an admirable code of honor. All in all, he wasn't such a bad guy. If only he'd see her for what she was, without being too shallow to look past her disguised appearance.

The sun sat further beneath the horizon. Tanya had suppressed her powers longer than any other mutant from Puckworld out of sheer will and practice. But now she knew she could no longer control them. She'd have to become the Black Cat again. For the sake of her health and sanity. 

Uncertain of how the other ducks would react to learning her true identity she had made up her mind to return to Felonia until she regained control over her powers. She would still have to utilize them (and shift into her hybrid form) occasionally, and she would have to account for her absence (however long it would take her), but maybe she'd still be able to hide what she was from her teammates.

Duke had faced a lot of doubt from the other ducks, especially Mallory, when Dragonus had planned to steal the world's largest gems for his mind control device but his past deeds had not been hidden from the others. For all they knew, Tanya was nothing more than a stuttering scientific genius, the team tech. Sometimes she'd thought it would be amusing to see the looks on their faces if she suddenly revealed her mutation. But then the thoughts of ridicule and evasiveness came and she shied away from showing them.

Stars peeked out from the cloudy heavens above. They were amazing, shimmering like jewels scattered among dark waves. Tanya loved the night. Like most cats she was nocturnal. And then the pale beams of moonlight danced across her beak. _Well, Felonia, here I come!_

Holding her arms up against the pale moon she clasped her hands together causing the dangling gems to intertwine. A bright light consumed her as they clinked together. In a brilliant flash, Tanya vanished.

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*Hi! It's been a while since my last update, but what do you think of this chapter? I've had this written down in a notebook for ages, lol, I guess it's time I posted it. I know this fic seems kind of 'out there' right now, but give it time. Hope everyone will go to my profile and check out my site (there's a link to my new Mighty Ducks site from there). ^_~ * 


	4. Cruel Fate

The Black Cat

Part Four: Cruel Fate

"I can't believe we're going through with this!" Jazz shouted, more to herself than to Premnitia, as the two ducks slowly made their way back to their homes.

"I don't like it either," Premnitia admitted, "but you and I both know that Dragonus will go to any length in his mad quest for power."

"Don't be so dramatic," Jazz grumbled, Premnitia seemed to be going into one of her sudden premonition stages. Jazz _hated_ those. "So what disaster do you feel coming now?"

Premnitia stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes glowed an electric blue. "The time is near."

"For what?" Jazz detested playing these guessing games but it was difficult to get a straight answer out of Premnitia otherwise.

A shadow was cast over the gray ducks eyes by her black bangs as she answered darkly, "Two figures emerge, Rexspur spies. We resist, they're too strong. There's a flash of bright light. A portal opens, and we're gone."

Jazz slapped her forehead, "Thanks for the cheerful thoughts pal!"

Premnitia snapped out of her trans-like state, "Talk about bad news…"

"Yeah, you basically told us WE'RE DOOMED!" Jazz snapped.

"Looks like I was right!" Premnitia pointed to a portal opening not six feet in front of them.

Sure enough, a Rexspur emerged brandishing a weapon while another appeared through a portal behind the two ducks.

"Man, I hate it when you're right." Jazz groaned to Premnitia.

"Me too." Premnitia gulped. "Look boys, we're not going anywhere!"

"Afraid your fates have already been sealed by Dragonus," the first spy answered, "you'll have to take it up with him."

"Why don't we just leave the both of you in the dust?" Jazz asked sarcastically, taking Premnitia by the arm and darting off with her down the street.

She was suddenly tripped up by an electrical whip that lashed out and coiled around her feet.

"Sorry mutants," the second Rexspur laughed as he activated his whip, "but you two aren't going anywhere but Earth."

As the whip was electrified at full power both Jazz and Premnitia blacked out. Just like Premnitia had said, there was a flash of bright light, a portal opened, and they were gone.

******

Despite he's previous plan to let Tanya come to him with her troubles Duke decided to take matters into his own hands and drop by the lab to check on her.

He entered the lab and saw no sign of Tanya. Odd, she was usually hard at work on some new project by this time of the morning.

"Tanya?" he called, heading out of the lab and into the garage. Maybe she was making repairs (or--gulp--adjustments) to the vehicles.

Still no sign of her. "Tanya?!" he was getting worried as he tapped on her door. After waiting a grand total of ten seconds without getting an answer he whipped out his picks and started on the lock.

He entered the room and flicked on the lights. Duke combed the whole headquarters without finding her. Now where could she be?

Finally he gave up, he'd never find her on his own. The others were returning from one of Phil's dreaded photo shoots when he came running up to them.

"Duke, what's wrong?" Wildwing asked.

"It's Tanya," Duke explained, "she's missing."

"What?" Mallory gasped, "Did you check the lab?"

"Are you kiddin? That's the first place I looked." he answered, "But she's nowhere to be found."

"Don't panic," Wildwing said rationally, "she's probably just at 'Lectric Land, I'll just get her on the comm."

Wildwing tried several times but it was like Tanya's communicator was out of reach. But, that was impossible. Wasn't it?

"What's wrong now?" Mallory huffed.

"The signal's definitely not jammed," Wildwing grunted, "wherever Tanya is, she's just out of range. Like in another universe."

"Should we try and contact Borg?" Nosedive questioned.

"No," Wildwing shook his head, "she would've let us know if she were there by now."

"So you're saying you think Tanya's in a completely different dimension?" Duke asked, "One that we've never been to before?"

Reluctantly, Wildwing nodded.

"We must find her," Grin stated, "a teammate should always be able to rely on the loyalty of their fellow hockey players."

"Agreed," Wildwing said sternly, "but there's a problem. We don't even know where to begin to look."

"I'll bet I know," Mallory almost spat.

"Yeah," Nosedive sneered, "ol' Lizard Lip's ship."

"Right," Wildwing nodded, "time to search for the Raptor. They must have repaired their dimensional gateway and used it on Tanya."

Everyone gathered around Drake One as Nosedive started keying in commands. "BINGO!" he announced, "Looks like Dragonus has just powered that thing up!"

"C'mon!" Mallory shouted, dashing for the doors, "Let's move it before they get away!"

"DUCKS ROCK!" Nosedive exclaimed as he and the others followed Mallory to the Migrator.

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*Can you guess why Dragonus _really_ fired up the dimensional gateway? And will Tanya get it together before it's too late? Read and review and I'll tell ya soon!*


	5. An Inescapable Role

The Black Cat

Part Five: An Inescapable Role

Dragonus was elated as the teleportation pad was activated and two by two the mutant brats from across the universe were brought in. By combining what was left of the dimensional gateway with his new teleporter he was actually able to use it to transport beings to and from the Raptor from any dimension he chose. The only drawback was the fact that ships and large weaponry couldn't be transported due to the miniscule size of the teleportation pad. But still, he had the mutants, and the ducks, were toast.

Jazz and Premnitia groggily opened their eyes and found themselves imprisoned in a large cell filled with other beings of much younger ages from what must have a dozen or so different species!

"Jazz," Premnitia whispered as she and her friend sat up among the elementary aged children around them, "do you see what I see?"

"Yeah," Jazz answered, "they're all…children."

"Welcome to my training school for mutant brats," Dragonus announced gleefully as he entered the room and stepped up to the crimson bars.

"Dragonus!" Jazz yelled, enraged and threw herself at the bars.

She literally got the shock of her life as she was throw back by the electric pulse and toppled amidst the crowd of children.

"I highly doubt you'll be trying _that _again." Dragonus laughed, "See, you're learning already."

Jazz got to her feet and glared back at the black hearted lizard, "You'll pay for this! And for what you did to our families! COWARD!"

"It would appear that _certain_ students will be requiring a tad more discipline than others." Dragonus said in a tone of dark amusement.

Wraith gestured to Premnitia and smiled wickedly, "That one possesses great power Lord, she can control the thoughts and will of others. The magic she wields could prove useful if put to serving _our_ purposes."

"Really," Dragonus grinned as he beheld the young duck, "then I suggest you begin instructing her immediately."

"Forget it hothead!" Premnitia shouted, "I'll NEVER work for scum like you!"

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear," Dragonus spoke and gestured for Siege to take aim at one of the children, "if one of you causes trouble…"

Siege fired his blaster and would've destroyed the child if Premnitia hadn't pushed him out of the way.

"…you'll all pay for it." Dragonus finished deviously.

Jazz and Premnitia exchanged looks of bitter hopelessness as the Saurians erupted into evil laughter.

******

"C'mon man!" Nosedive shouted to Wildwing as they pulled up to the greenhouse which was actually just another cloak being used by the Raptor.

"Well," Mallory sighed, "as least they're getting more original with time."

"We don't have time for this," Duke called and leapt out of the vehicle, "we've got to go rescue Tanya!"

"Charge!" Nosedive laughed as he and the others watched Duke dash off towards the greenhouse.

Mallory put a hand to her head and sighed, "Here we go, Duke's in damsel rescuing mode again."

Duke rushed up to the greenhouse and took out a lock pick from a pouch on his belt. "Time to teach those lizards the proper way to treat a lady."

Inside the Chameleon had spotted the Migrator arrive. "Hey boss!" he called racing down the hall towards the mutants' cell, "Them ducks are here to foil our plans---again!"

"For now I think it's best that we made a tactical retreat, but later," he grimaced at the cell filled with trembling children, "we'll send our little recruits out to remove the ducks from our path permanently."

******

Moaning, Tanya laid back on her bed in the castle of her sister, Princess Piyamari of Felonia. From the day they first met Piyamari and the other counterparts had gone out of their way to make their 'sisters' feel at home in Felonia whenever they visited. It was truly kind of them to be so generous but at the same time, there had always been something that pulled The Pride back to Puckworld. Tanya sighed as she realized how much she missed the other Mighty Ducks.

A soft tap at her door caused Tanya to come back to reality, "Come in."

Piyamari slowly pushed open the door with her pink paw and stuck her head in to see what sort of state her sister was in. Sadly, she saw that Tanya was sprawled out on the bed, looking more distraught than ever.

"Sister," she spoke softly, "are you well?"

"I'm fine," Tanya moaned, "sorry to just drop in on you like this."

"That's alright," Piyamari smiled and walked over to the bed and sat down at the edge, "you know you're always welcome here. And I didn't just come to check on you, I always wanted to tell you that-"

"Ruby's here?!" Tanya bolted up.

Piyamari nodded.

Tanya dashed out of the room only stopping to hug her sister on her way out. In a matter of seconds she'd made her way into the main chamber and saw Ruby standing there waiting for her.

"What took you so long Tawny?" Ruby teased. "I was beginning to think you'd left already."

"I'm not leaving anytime soon," Tanya answered, "I can't. The others, they don't know about me, what I am. Until I get this thing under control I'll just have to stay here."

"And then you'll go back and tell them?" Ruby asked.

Tanya lowered her head, "You know what that could mean."

Ruby sighed, "You know, not everyone will judge us just because we're mutants. And who better to trust than your friends."

"My friends are all on Puckworld," Tanya insisted.

"Then why do you miss the team so much?!" Ruby burst out. "Why did you bother to join the Resistance? What happened to pursuing your cure?!"

"You really wanna know?!" Tanya snapped, "I miss those guys because they're the only people I've been around for the last two years! I joined up with them because The Pride insisted that I follow Duke to the ends of the universe! And when Duke and I finally meet up I get called 'kid' and I'm too uptight about this stupid mutation to stick around him long enough to discuss anything else besides Dragonus and repairing weapons!!!"

Ruby stared at Tanya sadly for a moment, "You mean, you're afraid if you tell him about what you really are, he'll break your heart."

Tanya didn't answer. Why was it that Ruby was always able to see right through her?!

"Anyway," Ruby went on seeing that her friend was uncomfortable, "I really need you to go back."

"Why?" 

"Because Dragonus is up to something." Ruby explained.

"When is he NOT up to something?" Tanya scowled.

"This time he's gone too far," Ruby insisted, "he's captured mutant children from across the universe and plans to train them and pit them against the Mighty Ducks."

"There's no way they'd attack children," Tanya murmured.

Ruby stated sternly, "That's exactly what he's counting on. Tanya, two of them are teenagers from Puckworld. Imagine what they'll go through without someone there to help them. Someone who knows about Dragonus' plan and has the skills to defeat him."

"Are you telling me that you want ME to go save them?" Tanya asked, "Ruby I can't control these powers anymore! I might do a heck of a lot more damage than good!"

"But if you don't go," Piyamari spoke up, "those poor children will surely be bent to Dragonus' will."

"He'll stop at nothing to destroy the team," Ruby added.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'd like to help, really I would, but there's just no way I can." Tanya tried desperately to decline, "I mean, even the Mighty Ducks couldn't bring in Dragonus yet!"

"True," Piyamari smiled and put a hand on Tanya's shoulder, "but Dragonus has yet to tangle with _The Black Cat_."

"So…" Ruby put a hand on Tanya's other shoulder, "what do ya say Tawny? Will you help those kids out. Maybe train the duck mutants? They might even be willing to help out the team if you were around to mentor them. It's not like you don't have experience with leading mutants."

Sighing Tanya saw she was trapped between two close friends wanting her to do the right thing. As if she hadn't already stuck her neck out enough times for complete strangers. But, everyone had their weakness, and children just happen to be Tanya's. Not quite as far fetched as her fear of dinosaurs right?

"Alright," Tanya muttered, "you win. But this is the LAST time I let either one of you talk me into anything!"

"That's my sis," Piyamari squeezed Tanya's neck.

"Looks like _The Black Cat's_ about to make one heck of a comeback." Ruby grinned.

__

Yeah, Tanya groaned inwardly, _only this time, she's gotta come back to a team that doesn't even know she exists._

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*Tanya's coming home! And what's up with Duke? Will those two ever hit it off? Guess that's where part 6 comes in…^_~ Review please, flames are for Saurians, not reviews.*


	6. Facing Friends and Foes

*Note: Hey! I rewrote this chapter because it was called to my attention that it was hard for readers to see why Dragonus and Duke didn't realize that Tanya was _The Black Cat_. I've added a few more paragraphs here and there to describe their thinking processes and hopefully help the readers see where their denseness is coming from. ^_^ Thanks for pointing things out to me, I hope this helps.*

The Black Cat

Part Six: Facing Friends and Foes

Duke collapsed inside the Raptor as it blasted off into the sky. The other ducks could only watch as yet another of their members disappeared from sight.

"Great," Mallory grumbled, "who's next?"

"You and I will just have to scan the area for them in the Migrator." Wildwing instructed, "Grin, you and Nosedive take the Duck Cycles and bring back the Aerowing."

The remaining ducks split up and the search for the Raptor--not to mention Duke and Tanya--was on!

"Oh beautiful L'Orange," Duke scolded himself, "way to get yourself caught by the Saurians."

Fortunately for Duke the Saurians were under the impression that he'd been blow away from the ship as it blasted off.

"Guess now all that's left is to start training them mutants," Siege said to Wraith as the two of them came down the corridor.

Duke pressed his back flat against the wall to avoid being seen. Apparently this was his lucky day. _Mutants? Now what the heck are they up to? _

The two lizards turned the corner leaving only their shadows in Duke's sight. Suddenly he heard muffling gasps and saw the shadow of another figure spring onto the unsuspecting lizards. Whoever it was, they were really wiping the floor with those Saurian slime balls.

Once they had the Saurians bond and gagged they took off down the corridor and disappeared from Duke's sight completely. The gray duck quickly rushed around the corner and past the two dumbstruck Saurians to try and catch up with the mysterious figure.

Inside the cell block Jazz tugged at the bracelet on her left wrist. "I'll bet these things self destruct or something. No way I'm walking around with a ticking time bomb for jewelry."

A small tan fox tapped Jazz on her elbow. "It's not a time bomb."

"Huh?" Jazz looked down into the large hazel eyes staring up at her. "What do you mean? What's your name kid?"

"My name's Vixonne and that's designed to break your system down if you remove it. The Saurians stole the technology from Grutogs centuries ago." the little girl answered.

"Lemme guess," Jazz smiled, "you're mutation is super intelligence?"

"No," Vixonne blushed, "my race is highly intelligent. My mutation is telepathy and the ability to link minds with others. Back on our planet magic is the primary source of energy and the Grutogs used to attack us with their technology. Anyone with a band like that on their wrist would suffer a great sickness when they removed it. The Grutogs could track our troops with them, no one dared take them off. The sickness can be fatal after just a few hours without the band."

"Perfect," Jazz groaned and stopped jerking on the band, "we're stuck here on death row doing a bunch of lizards' bidding."

"We'll figure a way out of this," Premnitia assured her, "Besides, Ruby said that _The Black Cat _would come."

"We're saved," Jazz responded sarcastically, "look around Prem, nobody's coming to help us! _The Pride _sold us out."

As much as she hated to admit it, it did seem as though they were caught up in a hopeless situation. Sighing Premnitia studied her wristband. 

"What's _The Pride_?" a voice asked her.

Turning around Premnitia came face to face with the little boy she'd pushed out of the way earlier. "They were a secret organization of mutants back on our home world. They promised us that they're leader was here and that she'd help."

The boy nodded, "Well, it hasn't been that long. I'll bet she's on her way." 

Premnitia smiled, "An optimist huh? Maybe you're right. I'd rather believe that our situation wasn't hopeless. Besides, those Saurian sleazebags have some serious bad karma coming their way. I can sense it."

"I'm Eirgo." the boy, a mouse looking creature with an extremely powerful aura introduced himself. "You must be some sort of psychic. That's cool, I'm telekinetic and I'm working on my ability to change the states of matter."

Premnitia laughed, "I'm no psychic. I'm sort of a mystic. I get premonitions and alter weather forms. Plus I've been told that my strength's a force to be reckoned with."

Eirgo grinned, "No wonder they stuck these bracelets on us. If we were to combine our powers we'd be out of here in no time."

Premnitia and Jazz's faces instantly lit up. Eirgo had a point. Why not?

"Say Prem," Jazz pulled her friend aside, "if we could bust out of this cell we could get those kids to the teleportation pad and send them home."

"One problem," Premnitia held up her wristband, "what are we supposed to do about these?"

Jazz studied the band a moment in deep thought. "Well---say we were willing to transfer the energy out of these things into our bands. The concentration would be high but it just might work. Without energy to power the kids' bands they'd be free to remove them and the Saurians would lose control."

"Jazz wait a minute," Premnitia interrupted, "are you suggesting that we SOMEHOW transfer the energy of ALL these bands into ours, INCREASING the power of whatever this 'sickness' is that'll overtake us when we try to take ours off, and then make it ALL the way to the teleportation pad to send every last one of these kids home?"

Jazz nodded.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!?" Premnitia snapped, "That's suicide!"

"You got a better plan?"

"We'd never make it past the Saurians. Especially with all these kids!" Premnitia pointed out.

"Ruby did want us to look after these kids." Jazz reminded her. "If we don't help them, who will?"

"And what about us?" Premnitia asked, "Have you stopped to think about what Dragonus will do to us?"

"Look, you're the one who's always telling me to think of others first." Jazz countered, "Well now I'm doing it. We can't bust all these kids out of the Raptor but if we manage to send them home then maybe the two of us can get past the security."

"This is nuts." Premnitia sighed.

"Stop being such a bring down!" Jazz growled, "It's now or never. Once they land the Raptor they'll be back to start our training."

She thought about this for a moment before replying, "I still say this is a stupid idea Jazz, but if it makes trouble for Dragonus and the Saurians, count me in!"

******

Duke continued to chase the mysterious assailant through the dark corridors of the Raptor. It became obvious by the high blonde pony tail and curves beneath the black spandex that he was chasing a female duck. Only…this duck was part cat. Her black ears, long tail, and glimmering claws tipped him off. Who was she? What was she??

In all his years as leader of The Brotherhood he'd never come across a creature that had even remotely resembled the woman he was staring at now. Yet…a certain air of familiarity did hang around her. He dismissed it as being nothing but an odd inkling in the midst of a potentially deadly situation.

The woman seemed to be heading in a specific direction. Duke decided to follow her. Whatever she was looking for, maybe she would lead him straight to Tanya.

She continued to head down the hall towards a large set of blood red double doors. Pausing for a second she looked them over from behind her black mask. Shaking her head she produced a small gray ball of clay and stuck it to the doors. In a half of a minute the clay ball exploded and the doors burst open.

Duke braced himself for the shrill sound of alarms but noticed the figure jam a tiny needle like device into the circuits exposed by one of the doors. It seemed to disable the security system. "Impressive," Duke muttered, "but you'll need all nine of your lives to get past Dragonus sweetheart."

The female had two shining silver swords crisscrossing against her back, she now drew one and proceeded to travel deeper into the Saurians' ship with Duke following close behind her.

In Tanya's mind she could sense someone else nearby. That eerie feeling of being watched was getting to her but every time she turned around no one else was in sight. Surely she wasn't becoming paranoid? Then again, this _was_ the Raptor.

She knew the layout of the Raptor well and gradually made her way towards the prison cells. Dragonus was sure to be keeping the mutants there. She only hoped she made it time before anyone was seriously injured by that sinister tyrant. Whipping around again she KNEW someone was following her. But if it was a Saurian, why hadn't they attacked by now?

While she was preoccupied by her unidentified companion another creature was making his way towards her. The sinister tyrant himself---Dragonus!

At first Dragonus had figured the creature to be the blonde mutant he and the others had locked down in the cells. Jazz was it? But after creeping closer he noted that she was taller and her build a bit more curvy. Just what he needed, those DUCKS interfering. No matter, he'd dispose of this oddly shaped mallard easily enough. He ran all the possible team members through his mind as he stalked up behind the female. None seemed to fit the appearance of the mutant standing before him. Whoever she was, she HAD to be one of the ducks, how else could she have gotten to Earth without the use of his transporter? Well, if the ducks had somehow managed to construct their own dimensional gateway, he'd be sure to have Wraith and Siege take it off their wings.

Duke had dunked behind a piece of equipment lining the hall. It was taking all his stealth to keep this strange woman from spotting him. When he finally felt her gaze leave him he peaked out from behind his hiding place and noticed Dragonus standing just feet away from the cat duck.

"I don't know who you are…" Dragonus spoke angrily, "…but you'll regret ever setting foot in here!"

The woman didn't flinched as he held up his hand to send a blast her way. Duke thought about rushing to her rescue but decided to see if she'd really need his help first.

Dragonus let loose his blast and the woman easily maneuvered around it. She landed on her feet just out of his reach and tossed him a grin as if to say 'Is that the best ya got?'.

Enraged Dragonus aimed his disintegrator at her, "Let's see you escape this!"

He fired several times and each time the woman dodged disaster. Finally she leapt toward him and with a swipe of her blade the designator fell to the floor.

Dragonus looked astonished. No one had ever managed to disarm him in battle before. No one, but those accursed ducks!

"I know who you are," Dragonus glared at the woman. "It would take more than a mask to full me. Did you think after two years of battling I wouldn't recognize a so called _Mighty Duck _when I saw one?!"

Duke's eye widened, there was only one blonde female on the team. And there was just no way that Tany-_Oh boy will she get a kick outta this when I tell her_. Just as Tanya had counted on her appearance and trade made it nearly impossible for anyone to consider her as a possible suspect for _The Black Cat_.

Tanya crossed her arms and glared at Dragonus. He may have guessed that she was a Mighty Duck, but it was doubtful that he knew which one. Her disguise was full proof. No one would ever suspect that Tanya Vanderflock, the team tech and computer nerd was actually the sleek and undefeatable _Black Cat_.

__

This creep may know a lot about mutants but he's clueless when it comes to disguises like the ones The Pride has cooked up. _We haven't existed undetected this long for nothing. Not even the top security forces on Puckworld know who we are. And they won't spread word one about us until they know who they're dealing with._

Dragonus studied her for a moment, he decided to play on her sympathy for other mutants, "I'll tell you what Duck. Join me and I'll see that you and your kind get out of here alive. Refuse, and try as you might, you'll never get a single one of those mutant children out of here in one piece!"

Duke's good eye widened, _Impossible, Dragonus has stooped to kidnapping now? Aw we should've seen this comin'!_

In response to his offer Tanya took the whip off her utility belt and wrapped it around Dragonus' feet.

"You dare defy me?!" he roared, preparing to send a blast her way.

This was what Tanya had been counting on. She quickly jerked the whip and sent Dragonus crashing to the floor. His blast hit a rusty pipe just above him and water instantly poured down on the infuriated lizard.

Duke had to suppress a laugh, "Whoever ya are angel, you've got skills."

With Dragonus temporarily out of the way Tanya took off through the doors and towards the holding cells. 

Dragonus furiously cried out to her, "Don't think you've won Duck! In fact, you've just sealed the doom of every mutant on this ship!!" 

Duke watched as Dragonus pulled a metallic device out of his purple robe and pressed a button. "That can't be good." he muttered and rushed past him to help the kids.

He stopped when he heard the sound of lasers down the hall, "The Chameleon, figures."

Tanya was locked in battle with the final Saurian now. The Chameleon sported some sort of razor propulsion device on his back and with each click of the button on the handheld trigger he sent another spiked razor her way.

She managed to block most of them with her swords but to her surprise The Chameleon chuckled and flipped a switch beneath the trigger. "Let's see how ya like the shredder mode."

Tanya growled at the lizard as he sent what must have been twenty razors flying at her at once. _This could be a little tricky._

Duke winced as the razors she couldn't block sliced into her shoulders, legs, and finally---her mask.

Tanya gasped as the mask fell to her feet. She had a small gash in front of her ear but worst of all, The Chameleon had an ear to ear grin on his slimy green face. 

Morphing into a male game show contestant he exclaimed smugly, "I'll take _Who is Tanya from The Mighty Ducks?_ for 800!"

Duke's jaw dropped as Tanya turned her face away from The Chameleon and towards him.

"Tanya?" he whispered in disbelief. _Guess she won't find it so funny after all. But of all ducks---Tanya?!_

"Lucky for you I have a spare," Tanya replied to The Chameleon, still unaware of Duke watching her. She pulled out another mask from her utility belt as well as a tiny dagger which she sent soaring at the cocky lizard.

"WHOA!" The Chameleon cringed as the dagger sliced through the cord connecting the trigger to the launcher. "We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor!"

"Oh no ya don't," Tanya fired a grappler at The Chameleon and grinned as he came crashing down to the floor. "I should've taken care of this years ago," she remarked as she stepped over him and finally came to the holding cells' entrance.

"You dirty ducky!" he exclaimed as he wriggled against the restraints, "Ya just wait till I'm loose!"

Tanya ignored his threats and disappeared into the Raptor's gloomy prison.

Duke lingered behind a moment, "Tanya? A mutant?" he felt hurt that she would've kept a secret like this from him--ur, the team--for this long. Narrowing his eye Duke activated his com, "Something fishy's goin' on here and I think it's about the others knew about it."

________________________________________________________________________

*Whew, long chapter. I know a lot happened here and I'll be the first to admit it's overwhelming but deep dark secrets usually are. The big question is…how will Tawny react once she learns that Duke's spilled her secret to the rest of the team? Oh, and can Prem and Jazz save those kids in time? And who's gonna save them? ^_~ Review and I'll post more ASAP.*


	7. On the Run

The Black Cat

Part Seven: On the Run

"Do you see anyone?" Premnitia whispered to Eirgo who was standing lookout from the bars.

"Nope, all clear," he called back.

Focusing her energy Premnitia placed her hands together, "Maybe we can't get past the bars," slowly she stepped out of the cell via the wall, "but I can get through the wall."

"Nice trick," Jazz praised, "now pull that lever and let's get outta here!"

Premnitia went to do so but nearly fell face flat on the floor. She heard Jazz laughing and the giggling of a few of the children. "WHAT?!"

"Y--your foot!" Jazz cackled, "Way to go _mystic_!"

Eirgo laughed too and used his powers of matter altering to walk through the wall and pull Prem's foot through for her.

Slightly embarrassed Premnitia slapped down the lever and the children all hustled out into the hall. Jazz motioned for them to be silent. "Alright, the Saurians went that way," she pointed in the direction where Tanya was quickly approaching, "so we'll go this way."

Meanwhile Wraith and Siege were back in action and on their way to check the holding cell. That's when they came across a thoroughly soaked Dragonus, "What kept you incompetent fools?!" he seethed, "Those Ducks are here and probably at the cell by now! STOP THEM!"

Rushing ahead to catch the ducks Siege tripped over something green wriggling around in the hall, "Hey! What's a guy gotta do to get a little respect around here?!" the Chameleon whined.

"Shut your yap and get after them ducks!" Siege ordered.

"I should have foreseen this," Wraith stated glumly.

Tanya reached the cells only to find that the prisoners had escaped. "And Ruby said they needed MY help." she grumbled.

"Look out!" a voice shouted. Tanya turned at the familiar tone and spotted the three goons coming down the hall. 

Deciding she'd rather not chance fighting all three of them right now she took off in the direction of the alternative exit---the one Jazz and the others had used.

It wasn't too far to the teleportation room where the teleporter sat in the corner surrounded by machines.

"Anyone know how to work this thing?" Prem asked.

"Let's see what we got here," Jazz raced over to the biggest piece of equipment and studied the controls, "Hm, this engineering is more primitive than I would've thought, but hey, these are Saurians!"

"Whatever," Premnitia answered helping two kids up onto the teleporter. "Can you get this thing going?"

"Sure." Jazz started pressing buttons and in no time flat the machine was up and running. Now all that was left was to drain the energy into the two ducks wristbands. The crossing of a few wires did the trick. "Okay, just gimme the names of their planets and I'll send em home."

******

"Catch that freak!" Siege bellowed as The Chameleon and Wraith panted after Tanya.

__

Now who the heck called out to me back there? Tanya was wondering, _It sounded like Duke but--nah--couldn't be._

"You lousy cat when I get a hold of ya I'll skin ya alive!" Siege threatened.

"Oh right like those stubby legs could keep up!" Tanya called back over her shoulder. No since in refraining from talking now, they KNEW who she really was. She only hoped that they were dumb enough to assume that the other ducks knew as well.

It had been several minutes since the Saurians had collected themselves and come after Tanya, and Jazz and Prem could do a great deal in that amount of time. Nearly all of the children had been transported home now. Everyone except---Eirgo and Vixonne.

"Well," Prem sighed, "I guess it's your turn kids."

Vixonne looked ready to cry as she rushed up to Jazz and threw her arms around her legs, "But what about you?"

"Hey, we'll be alright." Jazz smiled, "There's a group of ducks here that could probably use our help. So we'll be with friends."

Premnitia sighed, it wasn't likely that they'd be joining up with the Resistance, not without knowing their opinion on mutants. Eirgo's hug snapped her back to the present, "We'll never forget you."

Now Prem was tearing up, "C'mon kid, don't make me cry too. Here," she took his arm and drained the last of his wristband's energy into her own, "now get outta here before those sleaze buckets come."

Once Jazz had removed Vixonne's wristband both children stood on the teleporter (they were from the same dimension) and with the press of a button, both kids were gone.

"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER CATGIRL!" The Chameleon's voice rang out from behind the entrance to the teleporter room.

"The Saurians!" Premnitia gasped.

"If we don't destroy this machine now they'll just kidnap those kids all over again!" Jazz added. "Plus, we need to find the blueprints for this thing so they can't rebuild it."

Without any objections Prem set to work searching for the blueprints while Jazz tried to disable the machine.

Tanya leapt against the walls dodging blasts and countering with swipes from her blades. "Ah-ha! Haven't you boys had enough yet?"

"I'll flatten ya!" Siege growled.

"Psh--yeah--right." Tanya remarked.

Wraith formed a blazing fireball in his hand, "Let's see how she fairs against magic."

Tanya rolled her eyes and hit a button on her belt. Instantly a flame barrier covered her suit, "Like no one's ever tried that old trick before!"

Wraith hurled the fireball at her anyway and naturally it had no effect. "My turn," Tanya grinned deactivating the barrier.

Wraith gulped as she flashed her claws and sprang towards him. 

"Whoa," the Chameleon muttered, "talk about a cat fight!"

"GOT EM!" Premnitia announced as she pulled out a set of blueprints with a disc on top. "This was almost too easy."

"Speak for yourself," Jazz snapped, tangled in wires.

"Aren't you done yet?" Prem asked, "Those Saurians are right outside!"

"Just a few more minutes and I'll have this thing-"

"Oh move over!" Premnitia grumbled and took matters into her own hands.

"WAIT!" Jazz yelled about a millisecond too late as Premnitia phased through the machine and ripped out a handful of wires.

Wraith collided with a wall and hit the floor with a sickening thud after soaring over the remaining Saurians' heads.

"Next?" Tanya mused.

Before either Saurian could make a move there was a huge explosion that blew the door off the teleporter room and sent two ducks flying into the back wall with anyone else standing in range.

"Oohhh…" Jazz mumbled, "see what happens when ya mix violence and technology?"

"I guess I should've meditated on that first." Premnitia moaned.

"YOU!" Siege shouted.

Premnitia and Jazz got up to run when Jazz suddenly remembered something, "The blueprints!"

Glancing over her shoulder Premnitia noticed the wrecked pieces of the blueprints (and disc) lying in the rubble, "History!"

Pushing a large piece of debris off herself Tanya saw the two mutant ducks take off for the main exit with Dragonus's henchmen in hot pursuit.

"Gimme a break," she groaned.

******

Duke watched from the entrance as two ducks rushed out of the Raptor with Siege, Wraith, and The Chameleon trailing them, "Must be the mutants those guys were talkin about. But where's Tanya?"

His questioned was soon answered when Tanya darted outside looking like she'd just been put through the wringer. _When I get my hands on those cold blooded lizards I'm gonna blast em where it don't grow back!_

Duke couldn't help but chuckle at the look of fury on her sooty face. "Welcome to the wonderful world of thievery sweetheart. Just what'll ya see what's waiting for ya when ya get home. Everyone's gotta deal with their past, just like Grin says, and it's time ya faced yours."

Thinking back on his past he remembered how the other ducks, especially Mallory, had taken learning about his past life as a jewel thief. They'd always known before, but when it came to trusting him when he said he'd reformed--well--he learned quickly just how painful facing one's past can be.

He hated to put Tanya through it, but in the long run, it was for her own good. Nevertheless, he'd stay close tonight and make sure she got out of this one okay.

"Are they still chasing us?" Jazz called.

Premnitia didn't even have to turn around, "Yeah, what'll we do?!"

Snatching Prem's hand Jazz prepared to use her super speed. "We kick it girlfriend!"

"Jazz! Wait! WHOOAAA!!!" Prem screamed as her arm was nearly yanked from it's socket.

"They're heading for the docks!" Siege exclaimed.

"Stop them you idiots!" Dragonus ordered from Chameleon's communicator, "Or I'll use you all as fish bait!"

A pier stood directly in their path as Jazz rushed on at impressive speeds hauling Premnitia behind her. As usual when Jazz pulled this stunt, Prem's feet were barely touching the ground. With her eyes tightly shut the mystical mutant didn't notice that they were running out of solid ground.

"Tell me when it's over!" Prem called.

"Um…" Jazz began, _Dang!_ "it may be over sooner than you'd think."

"What do ya mean?"

****

SPLASH!

Tanya couldn't believe her eyes, _Okay, now I've gotta jump in the water like this? I'm in mutant cat duck mode here, cat's HATE water!_

"Them ducks just took a dive!" Chameleon huffed.

"Then get in there after em!" Siege replied, shoving the Chameleon off the pier.

"WHOA! BUT I DON'T EVEN HAVE MY FLOATIES!"

"Pathetic." Wraith remarked.

Jazz and Premnitia struck for the surface and finally emerged coughing up water. 

"Well," Jazz sighed, "at least things can't get any worse."

Prem's eyes widened as she noticed a large dorsal fin appear behind her friend, "Wanna bet?!"

Tanya dove in from the shore and paddled out as fast as she could towards the two mutants and thrashing lizard.

"Careful Tawny." Duke murmured as he looked on from the dunes.

"DUKE!" Wildwing's image appeared on Duke's com, "What's happening? Where are they now?"

"I've got no clue where we are," Duke admitted, "All I know is that the Raptor must've landed by some beach."

"We've stopped picking up teleportation energy," Wing continued, "you're on your own now until we can trace ya. Just make sure they get back to the Pond."

"Got'cha." Duke nodded. Wildwing had been a bit shocked when he'd informed him about Tanya's little secret and the two mutant ducks that were on the planet but he'd reacted calmly enough. 'Just get em to the Pond and we'll sort things out from there.' he'd said.

Thankfully the Chameleon's splashing had drawn the shark towards him instead of the girls.

"YIKES!" Chameleon yelped as the large fish swam at him and opened its jaws, "Nice fishy, good fishy, I'M OUTTA HERE!!!!"

"That wimp," Siege griped as Chameleon transported back to the Raptor. "Looks like it's up to us."

"Why go to them when they'll come to us?" Wraith observed, "That shark should drive them straight to the shore."

"And we'll be waiting to nab em!" Siege concluded.

Tanya dove under just as she came to the mutants who hadn't yet spotted her, she had an idea.

"Here comes JAWS!" Jazz screamed as the shark swam straight for them.

"Oh man! I don't wanna die!" Premnitia exclaimed, "Think of all the soul searching I haven't done!"

"I'm gonna slug you if you fill my last moments with that meditation gibberish!" Jazz warned.

Drawing her sword Tanya placed herself just below the shark and mutants. _Well, stuff like this works in the movies!_ With that thought she plunged the sword upward into the shark and started slicing, naturally there was a lot of thrashing and bloodshed involved. (I'll spare ya all the gory details.) Now to add to the illusion she yanked both mutants under the water.

All Prem and Jazz could see was blood…blood, flashes of white, and (eww) shark guts. To Wraith and Siege however, it appeared as though the shark had attacked the mutants and pulled them under to endure horrific deaths.

"Guess that's the end of those two." Siege shrugged, "Now what?"

"Now we go back to Dragonus and explain to him how YOUR foul-up cost him his only two remaining mutant warriors!" Wraith answered in mid teleport.

"WHAT?! Why you conniving old fossil I'll-" Siege yelled as he too teleported back to the Raptor.

Duke raced along the pier and stared in disbelief at the pool of bloody water a few yards out into the ocean. "NO! TANYA!!"

The one eyed duck got the shock of his life when three female ducks emerged sputtering and wringing blood from their hair.

"TANYA!" Duke cried happily.

"Duke?" Tanya gasped, so it had been him that called to her back in the Raptor. But that meant…_Oh no._

"_The Black Cat_!" Jazz and Prem said in unison. 

"Uh yeah," Tanya blushed, removing her spare mask, "…that's me."

Duke gave the women a hand up on the pier. "What happened to the shark?"

Tanya gestured over her shoulder with her thumb, "Ya like sushi?"

"So Ruby really WAS on the level." Jazz breathed in amazement.

"Who?" Duke asked.

  
"My--uh--second in command." Tanya mumbled.

Duke gave her a look of astonishment, "Bet'cha never would've given me that much credit huh?" Tanya teased.

"Ya just didn't seem like the thieving type angel." Duke answered, "But, there's something you should know."

"What?" Tanya dreaded finding out.

"The others, well, back in the Raptor I clued em in that you were a mutant. So um, you might have some explaining to do when we get home." Duke explained.

"WHAT?!" Tanya snapped, "What gave you the right to do that?!"

"Hey," Duke countered, "you're the one who ran out on us! We were worried sick and then on top of everything you've gone and hidden something like this from us! We risk our necks for ya like any other member of the team Tanya, don't you think we deserve to know a secret like this one? You could've been killed!"

"Get this through your head L'Orange," Tanya clenched her fist, "I am NOT some damsel in distress, I can take care of myself and I've been doing it for some time now!"

Premnitia and Jazz sat there caught up in the argument. Partially feeling bad for this Duke guy because he obviously seemed to care a lot about Tanya, but then again, they could sympathize with Tanya for wanting to keep her mutation a secret.

Duke was fuming, how could she not see what she meant to him--uh, that is--the team?! "Maybe we should get back to the Pond to finish this." he finally offered.

Just then Jazz and Premnitia started shaking. It was nothing more than a slight shiver at first, then it progressed to an all out convulsion.

"Um…guys…" Jazz shook violently and glanced down at her wristband. "I think Draggy activated these things."

Turning to them Duke and Tanya each snatched a wrist and examined the bands. "We've got to get these things off." Tanya explained.

"But we could die!" Jazz cried out in protest, "These things are supercharged!"

"If we leave these on you WILL die!" Tanya stated firmly.

"What'll we do?" Duke asked.

"Take your saber and get that off her." Tanya instructed as she took one of her own swords off her back and cut the band off Jazz.

Duke did so with Premnitia and was shocked to see the convulsions worsen. "Now what?"

"Lemme think lemme think." Tanya wracked her brain, "We need to get them back to our headquarters so I can run some tests. And we need to hurry! They don't have much time."

Picking the gray duck up in his arms Duke rushed with Tanya (who was carrying Jazz) back to the shore and out to the street. 

Luckily the Ducks had managed to trace the homing signal from Duke's com and finally found the right beach.

"There! They're directly below us!" Mallory pointed to a bleep on the radar.

"Alright Nosedive," Wildwing instructed his younger brother, "take us down."

"You got it bro!" Dive saluted. 

Duke and Tanya looked up as the Aerowing was lowered down and the hatch opened. Grin and Mallory appeared and helped them get the two quaking mutants inside.

"Who are they?" Mallory asked as she watched Tanya kneel over the two girls still in her black spandex.

"They're mutants, like me," Tanya explained, "and they'll die if we don't get back to the Pond so that I can give them medical attention soon."

"Whoa, nice outfit Tanya." Nosedive grinned.

"HEY!" Duke shouted, "Just fly the plane kid!"

"Well EXCUSE ME!" Nosedive huffed and turned back to the controls. "Next stop, the Anaheim Pond!"

________________________________________________________________________

*Okay, just so there's no confusion, remember when Dragonus pulled out a metallic device in Chapter 6 and pressed the button? Well, it took a little while, but the wristbands kicked in at full strength and THAT'S what made Prem and Jazz freak out like that. Plus, it got worse (just as they were warned) when they removed the wristbands. Now their fate hangs in the balance. Will they survive? Review and we'll see…*


	8. Tanya Takes Command

The Black Cat

Part Eight: Tanya Takes Command

After what seemed like forever to the two convulsing mutants the Aerowing landed at The Pond. No sooner had the crew unfastened their seatbelts when Tanya started giving orders.

"Mallory! Rush ahead and get the first aid supplies! We've gotta stop the bleeding on the cuts they've sustained from the explosion. GRIN! You and Dive carry these two inside while Wing rushes ahead and starts the Med-A-Coms!" no one objected to Tanya's strange outburst of commands and pretty soon they were all busy with their tasks.

"What about us?" Duke asked catching up to Tanya as she darted into her lab.

Pulling out a drawer and digging through assorted junk she produced a scrap sheet of paper and handed it to him. "This is Dr. Maxine Harper's address. I need you to get there fast and bring her back here. She's the best there is when it comes to handling sudden onsets of seizures like what those girls are experiencing."

"Whoa, what if she's busy or something?" Duke asked.

"Just tell her Tanya sent ya." she called before darting back out with her laptop and a few syringes.

Duke stared out the doorway and then down at the paper. "How'd I ever get myself mixed up in somethin' like this?"

******

"Hey Wing," Dive motioned towards his brother, "they don't look so good."

"I've gotta finish setting these controls Dive." Wildwing insisted. 

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Nosedive demanded. He HATED feeling helpless.

"I dunno," Wildwing muttered pressing in a code, "just keep em talkin."

Nosedive and Grin exchanged glances before looking down at the two trembling mutants. One would've never known they were mutants simply by looking at them. Both girls seemed perfectly normal on the outside---aside from the fact that they were violently shaking---while Tanya's mutation was a bit more obvious…and strange.

"So um…read any good comics lately?" Dive sheepishly grinned down at the blonde he had carried in. 

To his surprise she laughed a little, "Are you kidding? I love comics!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

Premnitia couldn't believe her luck, "Oh great, here I am dying and the last thing I'll ever hear will be those two squealing over cartoons in boxes!"

"You mustn't talk that way." Grin cautioned, "Think positively. You will survive."

"How's about **you** lie down here convulsing and **I'll **stand over you talking all optimistically?!" Prem glared. 

Grin seemed slightly hurt by this. Prem actually cared, _Aw what I am doin' telling this poor lug off? It's not HIS fault I'm lyin' here. He's only tryin' to help. Stupid conscience!_

"Look um…what was your name again?"

"Grin."

"Okay, well…sorry Grin. Didn't mean to snap at ya like that." she managed a weak smile, "It's just that I'm going through a lot of pressure right now."

"Understandable." Grin stated, "But it has been said that one can often be at their best when they are truly at their worst."

"Hey, my old hockey master used to say that." Prem remarked between cringes.

"Mine too." Grin perked up. "Perhaps we trained under the same sansei?"

"I hate to brake up this touching moment," Tanya huffed placing her laptop by the controls that Wildwing had finally finished setting, "but I've got work to do!"

Grin and Dive backed off to the sides of the Med-A-Coms where Prem and Jazz were laying, progressively getting worse.

Tanya approached with a syringe in each hand.

"Uh…what are you gonna do with those?" Dive asked uneasily watching as she took Jazz's bare arm into hers.

"I'm gonna inject this medicine into her bloodstream and hope it helps counteract the effects of the wristband." Tanya answered sounding annoyed.

"Oh." Dive squeaked before hitting the floor when Tanya pressed the needle through Jazz's feathers.

Groaning she tossed Wing a look over her shoulder, "You wanna stick patient #3 on the other bed?"

"He'll be okay," Wildwing muttered dragging Dive over to where Tanya gestured, "never could stand needles."

"That makes two of us." Jazz murmured feeling queasy as she stared at the opposite wall.

Mallory came in with the medical supplies and proceeded to clean Premnitia's wounds while Tanya injected her with the contents of the second syringe.

"What happened to him?" she pointed at Dive.

"Squeamish." Tanya replied, "Better go take care of Jazz now."

Nodding Mallory took the supplies over to the blonde and started tending to her wounds, "Guess you're Jazz huh?"

"Guess so."

"Well don't worry. You're safe now."

Straining against the involuntary jerking of her body she managed to respond, "I…hope…so."

******

"WHAT?! YOU PEEBRAINS!" Dragonus roared furiously once his henchmen informed him of their failure to capture the mutants.

"It wasn't our fault." Siege insisted, "That cat lady. She helped em and then that shark tore em limb from limb!"

"Cat lady…" Dragonus recalled his encounter with the mutant. "…Tanya. Wraith! Prepare the hunter drones! If that duck's a mutant too then there's still a chance that those other two are alive. Probably more dead than alive by now but those ducks are sure to find a cure. And when they do…we'll be there to reclaim our warrior slaves!"

******

Duke arrived at the address on the piece of paper and anxiously rang the doorbell. A tall woman with low cut dark brown hair answered the door eyeing him with confusion and a hint of worriment. "Can I help you?"

"Uh yeah, Dr. Harper?" Duke shifted around in place.

"Yes?"

"I was hopin' that maybe you could follow me back to the Anaheim Pond. A situation's come up and we could really use your help." he explained.

"What kind of situation? How'd you know where I live?" although she spoke with distrust she was pulling on her hospital coat as she spoke.

"Two of our kind have been convulsing for a while now so Tanya sent me out here to find you. Said maybe you could help?" 

Grabbing a leather bag filled with supplies Dr. Harper stepped out on the stoop and turned to the duck. "Tanya, eh? So…are we taking your ride or mine?"

******

"Levels are dropping!" Wildwing shouted staring at the flattening lines on the monitor. "We're losing them!!"

Mallory tightened her grip on Jazz's arm, "Just hold on." she whispered to the unconscious teen.

"I don't like the vibes I'm getting." Grin said despairingly from his position by Premnitia.

"Well I can only do so much!" Tanya cried out in frustration.

"Tanya, the vital signs are almost non existent." Wildwing warned.

Nosedive---who had recovered around the same time the two ducks lost consciousness---sat up and stared over at the Med-A-Coms. "Then why are they still shaking so much?"

"It's an unconscious reaction to removing those bands." Tanya stated, "There's nothing else I can give them."

"Can I help?" Dr. Harper asked rushing into the room with her supplies.

"How are they?" Duke inquired of Wildwing.

"Not good." Wing answered solemnly.

"We need to elevate their feet some. Try lying their heads back more." Harper offered suggestions for a good two hours before the shaking finally reached a minimum.

"There." Tanya sighed lying the used equipment on a metal tray to be sterilized. "We've done all we can. It's up to them now."

Sadly Wing and Duke stepped out of the room. "Coming Dive?" Wing asked on his way out.

"Nah, you two go ahead." he answered taking a seat on the other side of Jazz, "I'm just gonna hang out here."

Smiling at the maturity his little brother was showing Wildwing turned and headed out the door. 

Gently Nosedive slipped his hand into Jazz's right one. Looking over he saw Mallory and was reminded of how Wildwing used to stay up with him all night whenever he'd catch the flu or something back home.

Squeezing Jazz's other hand reassuringly Mallory sighed to Dive, "It's gonna be a _long_ night."

******

Back in the Rec Room Wildwing and Duke began talking.

"So she knows you've told us?" Wing asked.

"Yeah. She's not hidin' her secret anymore." Duke answered, referring to the fact that Tanya was still in her cat-duck form.

Wing took a moment to reflect on all that had happened over the past week. "I just don't see how she managed to keep her mutation a secret. And now we've got those two kids to watch over. Dragonus is gonna pay for this."

"I know." Duke grimaced, "The guy's got no morals."

"Maybe Tanya'll be able to help us out more now." Wing sighed, trying to get a handle on the situation, "You did say she managed to take on all the Saurians back on the Raptor."

"Yeah," Duke agreed, "She took em on. But not all at once. Let's not push her."

Wildwing agreed and they both slumped down on the couch. After sitting there in silence for a while Wildwing decided to get the one answer he'd been wanting from Duke. "Um Duke…"

"Yeah?"

"One thing's been bugging me for a while now."

"An' what's that?" Duke cocked an eyebrow sensing that this was going to be one of those _personal questions_.

"You and Tanya." Wildwing began, "Not that it's any of my business or anything. But I was just wondering…do you like her?"

"'Course I like her. She's my teammate isn't she?" Duke got defensive.

Smiling Wing shook his head, "You know what I mean. Do you have a thing for Tanya?"

__

Ah perfect, this is all I need. Well, I guess it's better to talk about this with Wing instead of Nosedive. "Yeah I got a thing for her. Have for a while. But it's not like it matters. She'd never have anything to do with me."

"Don't be so sure." Wildwing cautioned recalling a chat with Mallory where she'd mentioned something about how unbelievable it was that Tanya could still trust Duke even after he'd left her and Nosedive in that vault. A girl would really have to like a guy to forgive him for something like that. 

Wing's reply caught Duke's attention, "Ya mean she-"

"I'm not saying that she does or she doesn't." Wing continued, "Right now we've got this whole mutant business to sort out. But tomorrow---well, who knows what that'll bring?"

________________________________________________________________________

*Before you find out what's next, please take a minute to review this chapter. I can't believe it's taken me this long to update this fic. I'll try and have the next part up in a few. 'Til then, thanks for reading! ^_~*


	9. Live for the Fight

The Black Cat

Part Nine: Live for the Fight

Morning came and The Pond's occupants began to stir again. Duke was a late sleeper, when he wasn't hustling to Tawny's lab with an extra bowl of cereal, so he was just now waking up. Wildwing was up and ready a good hour before anyone else but decided to lay off the others and let the mutants rest as long as they could. He was almost afraid of what the morning had in store for them.

Yawning Nosedive nuzzled closer to the soft object he'd fallen asleep by the previous night. Gentle breathing filled the air by the young duck's beak as he continued to dream of being named Puckworld's All Time Most Valuable Player.

Mallory sat up and stretched in the pale lighting of the infirmary. Noticing Tanya jotting down notes behind the equipment she recalled the two convulsing mutants. Worriedly she glanced down at the mutant she and Dive had been watching over to see that the convulsions had stopped. "Tanya, are they---?"

"Their vital signs have--uh, ya know--stabilized," Tanya spoke with a slight grin, "they're going to be fine."

"Guess that stuff you and Dr. Harper gave em worked huh?" Mallory asked noting how cute Dive and Jazz looked cuddled up together on the opposite side of the sickbed.

"Actually," Dr. Harper said packing her supplies, "those two managed to pull themselves through the seizures. What we gave them was enough to help, but not ensure that they'd last the night. Those two are fighters alright. But I'd recommend they take it easy for a week or so, just in case."

Premnitia's eyes flittered open just as Dr. Harper headed out, "Where am I? Where's Jazz?!"

Grin awoke with a start as Prem flew up, her eyes darting around the room for her companion. "Jazz?!?"

"It's okay," Tanya stated calmly, "you've both survived the night. The worst is behind you now."

A blast from down the hall suggested otherwise.

"I had ta open my big beak." Tanya grumbled.

Mallory'd recognize the sound of that machine fire anywhere, "Hunter drones!"

Wing and Duke heard the explosion as well and came rushing down the corridor to find Dragonaus and his henchmen, along with about two dozen hunter drones, charging towards the infirmary.

"Not so fast ya bunch of over equipped tin cans!" Wildwing ordered firing the built-in blaster on his armor.

"Yeah," Duke added, leaping in front of the infirmary's entrance, "you're not gettin' through here without a fight!"

"I was hoping you'd say that." Dragonaus smiled devilishly, "Wraith, Siege, Chameleon! ATTACK THESE PESTS!"

"With pleasure." Wraith chuckled darkly, producing a fireball in his decrepit hand and launching it at Duke.

"So it's fire again eh?" Duke sneered dogging the blast as it singed the door, "Well I'm ready for ya this time ya walkin' fossil!"

"What's going on?" Jazz asked, sitting up with Nosedive.

"Sounds like Draggy's back," Nosedive grimaced, "And this time…it's personal."

"He loves saying that." Mallory informed Jazz blandly.

"We've got to help them." Premnitia declared getting to her feet.

"No," Grin eased her back down, "it's too dangerous. You're still weak from the wristband. We'll stop Dragonaus."

__

If he wasn't so adorably naïve I'd have to HURT HIM! Premnitia winced, reluctantly staying put.

Tanya remained silent while Mallory, Grin, and Nosedive charged out the doors narrowly avoiding getting barbequed by another of Wraith's fireballs.

"We can't let them fight that army alone!" Jazz cried, "Those creeps are after us! It's our fight too!"

"So you wanna be Mighty Ducks huh?" Tanya finally spoke.

"If it means fighting Dragonaus and putting his whole stinkin' crew back in their dimensional prison, then yeah. Count us in!" Premnitia answered.

"Whatever happened to all that peace and tranquility?" Jazz teased.

"To heck with karma, those Saurians are toast!" Prem exclaimed.

"My fellow mutants," Tanya smirked, "welcome to the team."

******

"Now the feather's are gonna fly!" Siege announced hurling himself at Grin. "I'm gonna make pillow stuffing outta you duck!"

"I don't think so." Grin countered, catching the lizard in midair and twirling him around above his head as if it were some widely televised wrestling match, "Time for some karmic payback."

"Way to go Grinmyster!" Nosedive cheered.

The Chameleon shifted into a body building form and grabbed Dive by the neck, "Now let's see how you like getting pounded ducky. I will pump you up and spit you out!"

"Oh yeah?!" Mallory shouted from behind, "Well chew on this!"

Gulping the bulky lizard dodged a barrage of pucks that came flying out him via Mallory's new Multi-Puck Launcher (recently redesigned to launch twice as many pucks, thanks to Tanya's urge for upgrading weapons).

While the ducks were preoccupied with battling his henchmen Dragonaus ordered the drones to blast their way into the infirmary. "Once I have those two mutant warriors NOTHING will stop me from conquering this world---NO---the UNIVERSE!!!"

"Wanna bet?" Wildwing challenged sending an explosive puck straight at the drone closest to the entrance.

Snarling at the nuisance Dragonaus shouted to the drones, "Get in there and bring me those mutants!" turning to the team captain he added, "I'll take care of this one, once and for all!"

Through the mask Wildwing could see the lizard's hands start flaming, "Oh boy, this is gonna be bad."

"Hey Wildwing!" Duke shouted after checking Wraith against the wall and grabbing his magical scepter, "Use this!"

"Got it!" Wing replied grabbing the scepter he used it like a hockey stick and sent Dragonaus' blast hurtling back at him at twice the speed.

Dragonaus was sent flying into one of the drones just as another managed to blast apart the metal doors of the infirmary.

"NO!" Wing cried as Dragonaus got to his feet and dashed inside.

Smiling triumphantly the crimson tyrant entered the room only to find it unoccupied, "What the devil?!"

Wildwing ran in after him, relieved to find that Tanya and the mutants had somehow escaped.

"It's called phasing Draggy," Premnitia called from out in the hall, "Makes for a very effective last second escape."

Seething with rage Dragonaus spun around and shoved Wildwing out of his way. "I will not be beaten by crippled avains!"

"So who's crippled?" Jazz snickered booking it into the center of the drone army.

"DESTROY THAT DUCK!" Dragonaus bellowed.

The drones raised their laser cannons and focused them on the blonde. Jazz seemed unfazed by her attackers. Yawning she eyed the robotic fleet, "It's a nice day for a twister wouldn't ya say?"

Spinning around in circles the duck got increasingly faster until a raging tornado formed tossing the drones around like cheap toys.

"Now there's a cool trick for parties!" Nosedive exclaimed, "Ya gotta teach me that one Jazzy!"

Siege hit the floor with a loud thud as Grin proceeded to body slam the scaly jerk, "Ready to surrender?"

"Never ya stinkin' waste of feathers!" Siege growled beneath the weight of the well muscled duck.

"Very well," Grin shrugged grabbing him by the tail and swinging him towards The Chameleon, "perhaps some social interaction will mellow you out."

"AAHHH!!!" Chameleon cried shifting out of his body builder form just before Siege came crashing down on him.

Checking the readings on the side of her weapon Mallory chuckled and stepped over the two bumbling reptiles, "Good thing they're down for the count Grin, I'm almost outta ammo."

"Well I told ya not to fire off every shot ya had with that thing all at once." Tanya scolded from the opposite end of the hall.

"Welcome to the party sweetheart," Duke called, the last of the drones fell crumpled at his feet.

"Whoa," Jazz muttered ceasing to spin, "so this is what the Tasmanian devil feels like."

Dragonaus looked around at his injured henchmen and thwarted drones. Enraged he decided to make one last play for a victory. Maybe he couldn't nab both mutants now, but if he could just get his claws on the blonde…

"HEY LET GO!" Jazz winced as Dragonaus sank his claws into her shoulder.

"Now duck," he chuckled activating his teleporter, "your photographic memory will allow me to reassemble the gateway generator and summon forth my spies to deliver those mutant brats BACK to the Raptor!"

"FORGET IT SULFUR BREATH!" Jazz shrieked as they started fading out of sight, "I'D SOONER DIE!"

"JAZZ!" Dive leapt towards the pair latching onto Dragonaus' ankle and teleporting out into the city.

"NOSEDIVE!" Wing yelled two seconds too late to save his brother.

Regaining consciousness the Saurians teleported back to the Raptor before the other ducks could bind them.

"Oh this is _real _nice," Duke commented, "first we lose Dragonaus, then two members, and now those Saurian creeps have split on us AGAIN!"

"We're going after them!" Wing clenched his teeth, "To the Migrator, NOW!"

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*Yes, I'm getting so close to the end of this fic! And it's about time since I've already started posting the sequels. ^_~ Make sure to review, your comments have been awesome!*


	10. Crucial Interrogations

The Black Cat

Part Ten: Crucial Interrogations

Dragonaus teleported with Jazz and unwillingly with Nosedive into a park near the center of the city. Once they arrived he shook the mallard off his leg and tossed Jazz against a park bench.

"Alright mutant," he pointed his mounted laser at Dive, "unless you'd like to see your new boyfriend bite the dust I suggest you agree to design a blueprint for the gateway generator."

"Don't do it Jazz!" Dive shouted.

"Silence you miserable whelp!" Dragonaus ordered.

Jazz looked over at Nosedive and then defiantly at Dragonaus, "And just who said he was my boyfriend?"

Dive laughed as smoke poured out the Saurian's nostrils.

"Yeah, so we've slept together," he chuckled, "so what?"

Jazz started to laugh too.

"This is no joke you brats!" Dragonaus roared and prepared to blast Dive.

"And I'm no slowpoke!" Jazz retaliated and darted over to save Dive before the blast hit home.

Nosedive opened his eyes to see himself zipping through the city back in the direction of The Pond with his feet two feet off the ground, "Whoa, this is the ONLY way to travel!" he joked.

"You said it cutie." Jazz winked as she hauled the young drake through the city hoping she remembered how to get back to the rink.

Dragonaus was furious but at a serious speed disadvantage. Once again he had come up short and all because of the accursed Mighty Ducks! Growling he teleported himself back to the Raptor.

******

"Lucy we're home!" Nosedive called as he and Jazz entered the Rec Room of The Pond where the team was suiting up to come after them.

"How'd you two give Dragonaus the slip so fast?" Duke inquired.

"_Fast_ is right," Dive chuckled, "Jazz here motored us home."

"Well that's good," Wing sighed in relief, "we were about to come out looking for you."

"Saved us a trip." Mallory patted Jazz on the back.

"No problemo." she smiled.

"Now back to the whole mutant issue." Wildwing turned to Tanya and Duke bit his lower beak. "Care to explain why none of us knew about your little secret Tanya?"

Groaning Tanya crossed her arms and glared back, "Because it really wasn't any of your business. You guys have your secrets and I have mine."

"That's not good enough Tanya." Wing answered, "You know you can trust us. So why not own up to your past? Duke did and he's better off for it."

"Well I'm NOT Duke!" Tanya snapped shooting the gray mallard a look that could kill, "And Duke had no business blabbing to you guys about my mutation. If I wanted you to know I would've told you."

"So why not just tell us?" Mallory persisted.

Shrugging Tanya replied coolly, "You never asked."

"Well we're asking now," Wing continued, "Tanya, we wanna know about your past and your mutation. Everything."

Sighing Tanya prepared herself for a _long _explanation, "Alright, here it is. Back on Puckworld there were all these girls from around the same generation that spontaneously discovered they were cat-duck mutants. This discovery took place anywhere from early childhood to teenage years. We basically have forms that include fur around our claws and paws (like hands and feet), cat ears, tails, and narrowing pupils in the bright light."

"Whoa," Nosedive muttered with a surprised whistle.

"There are 72 of us in all," Tanya continued, "We eventually found each other and around the time there were about 13 or so of us we formed a mob known as The Pride. More and more joined and I was appointed leader. My best friend and lab partner---Ruby Dunshap---is second in command. For some odd reason there are no males with this particular mutation. We don't know how to explain that. We are unable to pass the mutation to the next generation thankfully. Not many outside the mob know about our existence and to control the aggression that comes with our mutation we became jewel thieves."

"Thieves?" Mallory echoed disdainfully.

"Hey, we'd rather purposefully attack trained security guards than lose control and assault innocent bystanders." Tanya answered.

"I can see your point." Wildwing added.

"There's more." Tanya moaned, "When Ruby and I were around 12 we discovered another twist to our mutations. The key being that we came across a group of alien cats called Felonians. They're very similar to our species only these Felonians were in search of their duck mutant counterparts or 'sisters', that turned out to be us."

"Freaky," Dive whispered.

"Yeah well," Tanya went on, "my counterpart is also the princess of Felonia, their home kingdom, Piyamari Fushya."

"So you're considered a royal there?" Duke asked.

"Pretty much," Tanya answered. Producing the two crystal bracelets from beneath her black sleeves she held them up for the team to see, "I've been transporting there occasionally with these. Only one of Felonian blood can use them. And I can only get to Felonia and back with these."

"Otherwise you could've just gone back to Puckworld," Mallory summarized.

"Right," Tanya answered, "and I possess a little magic which is the Felonians' main power source. They use magic like we use electricity and such."

"My kinda people." Duke remarked.

"I'm still not speaking to you." Tanya glared.

"What for?!" Duke questioned, he hated having Tanya ticked at him.

"I think that's glaringly obvious," Mallory smirked.

"Is this interrogation over now?" Tanya looked at Wildwing who nodded in reply.

Duke followed Tanya out into the hall struggling to catch up. "Tanya, wait!"

Spinning around she jeered at him, "What? Want some more info you can tell the others? Didn't you think I would've told them on my own? And even if I didn't, what gave you the right to blab?!"

Duke was taken aback by her sudden outburst, "Don't ya trust us anymore sweetheart? I had to own up to my past, believe me, it's better to have everything out in the open than a bunch of skeletons in your closet."

"You're nothing but a stool pigeon," Tanya huffed.

"Hey now," Duke stated offended, "I'm no stool pigeon kid. I just did you a favor. You'll thank me later."

"Yeah right," Tanya headed for her room and sealed the door behind her.

"So I guess a date would be outta the question?!" Duke called hoping to be heard through the metal barrier.

After a few seconds he started heading back down the hall only to freeze when the door slid open…

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*Mean place to stop? Maybe, just call me suspenseful, lol. ^_~ Hope to get some reviews!*


	11. Tanya Vs Lucretia

The Black Cat

Part Eleven: Tanya Vs. Lucretia

Spinning around on his heel when he heard the swooshing sound of Tanya's door sliding open Duke's heart jumped to his throat. 

Stepping outside her doorway she stared at him skeptically. Her eyes focused on him and thin slits formed in place of her round, infuriated pupils. A soft breath escaped her beak, "A date?"

Nodding was the only response that Duke could force himself to give. This was so unlike him, fidgeting before a girl, and not just any girl---Tanya.

Shifting uneasily back and forth Tanya seemed to be contemplating the offer. Finally after a few seconds of intense deliberation--which felt like an eternity to poor Duke--she spoke, "Alright snitch, a date it is. But I want you to promise me it won't wind up tomorrow's hot conversation topic here at the Pond." Tanya spoke with a hint of playfulness in her voice that suggested she wasn't as peeved as the comment sounded.

"That all depends on how much fun we have." Duke grinned, getting back into the swing of his old debonair behavior.

"You _do _set your expectations high." Tanya laughed, "But don't think this means I forgive you or anything pal, you've got a lot of kissing up to do before that happens."

Duke drew nearer and placed an arm around her waist, "I'm countin' on it sweetheart."

Blushing slightly she pushed his arm away, "Pick me up at eight loverboy," she gestured grandly as the door slid shut again, "you know the address."

******

Wildwing sighed as he looked over at the two new avians standing across the room. Being leader was becoming a real pain in the tail feathers. "So, why don't you two tell us a little about yourselves?"

Premnitia and Jazz exchanged looks before Jazz smirked and spoke up, "Well, after graduating from Puckworld University with a PhD in Astrophysics I decided to vacation in the grand resorts of Iceton before moving on in my career to-"

Nosedive was snickering, Mallory shook her head and rolled her eyes. Grin was, as always, impassive and Wildwing merely groaned, "Whew boy, they couldn't have found someone a little _less_ like Dive."

Premnitia nudged Jazz, "Don't make things so hard on the captain, Jazzy. It's not like ol' Lizard Lips is drilling us."

"Sure spoil my fun," Jazz grinned and turned offering a hand to Wing, "okay, let's try this again. My name's Jazz Billeres, I grew up in an orphanage and until recently I was a student at a high school not far from where the Saurians first struck. I have forty brothers and sisters, the kids from the orphanage being my only family for a while save for this one jerk who's kinda been a big brother to me, and my parents were originally captured and relocated and told if they ever tried to find me the Saurians would have their spies off us all."

Wildwing finished shaking her hand and eyed her suspiciously. "Honest." Jazz insisted. "It's cuz Prem and I are mutants. This was done _way_ before the Saurians ever attacked and Tanya's Pride members filled us in a while back."

"It wouldn't be the first major conspiracy on Puckworld that Dragonaus was involved in." Mallory stated.

"And what's your story?" Wildwing turned to Premnitia.

"I'm Premnitia Quackcast, it's the same deal as far as my family goes, I grew up not far from Jazz with a piano teacher and studied Ti Quack Doe after school. I can tell from a quick mind read that you've been filled in on our Saurian training and the powers we have. Not to mention that little spout in the hallway. I don't have any siblings, not even one like Jazz mentioned, I do have a cousin that I'm pretty close to, well, I was before the whole Dragonaus conspiracy thing kicked in. So, anything else ya wanna know?"

"I think we're good." Dive commented casually.

Tanya reentered the room a second later and stood a considerable ways away from Duke. There was no reason to go easy on him now, just because she'd agreed to go on a date with him.

"There's one thing I'd like to know from you Tanya," Mallory addressed her.

"What's that?" Tanya inquired sensing that she'd be giving away some very personal information soon. And just when she'd thought her interrogation was over.

"Just how in the world did you know Lucretia Decoy when none of the rest of us did?" she asked.

"Whew boy, is that a long story!" Tanya exclaimed, "But it ya really wanna know I'll tell ya." 

Mallory crossed her arms as if signaling her to go on. 

Tanya drew in a breath, "Lucretia Decoy used to snoop around the lab where Ruby and I worked, she'd try to get information outta the guards and male scientists by using her _not-so-natural_ charms."

Mallory smirked to hear this, she'd always thought Ms. Perfect was 99% plastic. At least Wildwing hadn't fallen for Decoy, that showed a bit of restraint and frankly, common sense, on his part.

"Eventually she found out that Ruby and I were the top inventors in the facility so she started pressing us for info. We wouldn't talk so the snake went to extreme limits, namely, kidnapping. She snuck into Ruby's apartment on the evening that the Saurians attacked Puckworld. Ruby was alone with her son Biren when Lucretia beamed her from behind and snatched the kid. When Ruby came to there was a note saying if she didn't fork over the information of our weaponry and newest technological defense advances she'd never see her son alive again. There was a location and time written at the bottom so Ruby did the only thing she could."

"She handed over the information?" Duke asked.

"No," Tanya answered gravely, "she called me."

__

*Flashback*

__

Fires raged along the debris cluttered streets of Puckworld's largest city. Screams of terror filled the air as gigantic Saurian robots ravaged the once peaceful planet. A lone figure stood atop one of the nearby buildings and surveyed the damage sullenly. After receiving a call from her best friend, who had obviously been frantic and in tears, she'd donned her black spandex and utility belt. Shifting into her cat-duck mutant form Tanya raced out up the railing of her apartment building and literally swung over to the location specified on the note Ruby had read aloud to her.

"Lucretia Decoy," Tanya sneered as she glared across the street at the tall burning building where Lucretia undoubtedly held the young toddler prisoner, "I knew the Pride should've put you away when you first starting poking your bill into our business."

While Lucretia was convinced that the Pride existed, despite the insistence of officers that it was an urban legend, she didn't have any real idea of who the actual members might be. She was especially clueless to the fact that Tanya herself was the leader. Well, she'd soon know exactly what it was to tangle with a Pride member, and she'd be lucky to escape with her life after being taught such a deadly lesson.

A shadow passed before a window and the blaze within formed the silhouette of Lucretia holding a small child. "Gotcha." Tanya remarked firing a grappling hook and swing across through the glass window.

Lucretia spun around and saw a dark figure crash through the window and roll through the fire only to came face to face with her upon standing. "Who are you?!"

"Your worst nightmare." Tanya answered, she'd always wanted to say that.

"That voice…" Lucretia recognized it instantly. "…Tanya Vanderflock? Ha! You're The Black Cat?! You've got to be kidding me!"

"Hand over the kid or I'll be slitting you." Tanya (The Black Cat) threatened drawing the two silver swords from behind her back.

"I don't think so." Lucretia half chuckled as she drew her blaster and held in front of the confused boy in her arms. "Take another step and the kid dies. Now, since you're here instead of your lab partner and you BOTH want the same thing, why don't you just hand over those files and I'll be on my way? It's your choice Tanya."

"That's Black Cat." Tanya corrected whipping her tail around Decoy's ankles and yanking her legs out from under her.

"HEY!" Lucretia yelped as she hit the floor while Tanya snatched Biren from her arms. She tried to take aim at the pair but a quick kick from Tanya sent the blaster sliding over to the opposite side of the room.

Holding both blades in one claw while wrapping the other around the dazed little boy Tanya started backing towards the window.

"Not so fast!" Decoy shouted kicking a support beam over which sent half the flaming ceiling down between Tanya and the only available exit. "Hope you've got nine lives kitty cuz I'm about to use you for a punching bag! You may be The Black Cat, but you're still just an overpaid science nerd that I've trapped in a burning building, and quite easily too."

"You talk too much," Tanya stated covering Biren's eyes with one claw and swiping at Lucretia's face with the other (her sharp claws drawn to their full length). 

Lucretia took a direct hit and fell backwards, bloody beaked, into the far wall. If one thought the damage to Duke's beak was bad they hadn't seen a thing compared to the condition Lucretia's was in. Blood flowed freely from the place where her smug little grin had once been and only vague remnants of orange remained as her lower jaw and back half of her upper bill hung nearly torn off by the force of Tanya's sharp blow.

With her right claw still carefully, yet firmly placed over Biren's eyes Tanya glared down at the defeated spy and spoke harshly, "If you ever touch an innocent or a member of my Pride again so help me I'll **kill** you with the next blow!"

With that Tanya activated the heat shield on her suit, it would protect Biren too so long as she dove back first with her arms wrapped around him through the walls of fire and debris. 

Pressing hard against the blood gushing from her face Lucretia glared as The Black Cat and child disappeared through the blaze. 'Just wait Tanya,' she thought darkly, 'now that I know your selfless little weakness I'll destroy you through the closest allies you have!'

Once out of the inferno Tanya swung across the other fiery buildings and the robot ransacked streets until she spotted Ruby a short distance away, awaiting her in an alley with her husband frantically arguing with police on the street corner.

"Poor guy doesn't realize the kid's safe yet does he?" Tanya asked as she dropped in front of her friend and handed her back her son.

"I couldn't tell him yet," Ruby sighed, "about you, about the Pride, about…us being mutants."

Tanya glanced out the alleyway's entrance and noted the civilians' racing past as the Saurians pursued them. "Things aren't looking good for Puckworld right now Ruby. You'd better round up the Pride members and get them and their families to secure locations."

"Those without families are always welcome at Felonia I suppose," Ruby sighed, "but I doubt they'd go. This is our home, they'll wanna stay and fight." Biren yawned and laid his head upon his mother's shoulder.

"Well at least he seems calm about all this." Tanya grinned over at him. "The kid's gonna make a heck of a Pride member one day. And thankfully, he doesn't have the mutant genes, so he'll never have to take up thievery."

Ruby smiled and cradled her baby boy, "I'd better let his father know he's okay. Those cops keep claiming to have more important matters to attend to right now with the invasion and all." 

Tanya shook her head, "No one cares about the little guys anymore. Guess chivalry really is dead."

"No," Ruby smiled at her friend, "some still keep it alive. Thank you so much for saving him Tanya. I knew if anyone could pull it off…it was gonna be you."

After a quick embrace Ruby hurried off to meet her husband. Tanya made sure that the family got away safely before turning back to the battle, it was gonna be a long fight.

*End Flashback*

Seven astonished and horror-filled faces met Tanya's gaze at the end of her tale. No one could find anything to say. 

Suddenly heavy sobs came from the doorway. Phil held a handkerchief up to his nose and blew hard, "That's the saddest story I've ever heard!" he blubbered.

Tanya frowned and shook her head.

"I always knew Lucretia was a rat." Mallory spat.

"But threatening to kill an innocent kid," Nosedive said in a whispering tone, "that's lower than low man."

"And you and Duke practically fell all over her." Mallory scoffed to Dive.

"Oh really?" Jazz questioned with her hands on her hips.

Dive gulped, just when he was starting to make a good impression on this girl Mal had go and open her big beak! "Hey, I was just playing along to see if she was on the level."

"Yeah right," Mallory rolled her eyes. Jazz crossed her arms, boys.

"Yeah I figured she'd play you and Dive for saps." Tanya sneered at Duke.

Duke gulped, if it wasn't the vault thing it was this! The poor guy couldn't win. "Sorry sweetheart, I ain't perfect ya know."

"Perfection is in the eye of the beholder," Grin stated profoundly.

"Easy for you to say," Duke commented, "you didn't make any moves on her."

Premnitia tossed Grin a smile, she was liking this guy more and more by the minute.

Jazz, on the other hand, felt like smacking Dive. Yet, it was obvious he felt bad about falling for someone as underhanded as Decoy. It was possible to overlook certain flaws, so long as her crush still had a conscience. _And nice tail feathers._ she smirked.

Mallory and Duke went on arguing about how shallow men like Duke were while Wildwing and Grin tried to get Phil to stop crying like a sissy. Tanya sighed and headed for the lab, the one place where she was almost always guaranteed peace and quiet.

Smiling as she left she thought to herself, _At least this whole Decoy business will give Duke and I something to talk about on our date tonight._ Man it was gonna be fun making him pay for ratting her out.

While Dive tried to convince Jazz that he was only 'playing' the fool for Decoy, Premnitia couldn't help but sense a new presence nearby. Not just nearby as in the same city or building, but in the same room as the ducks. It wasn't a Saurian, or avian, or human…no, this being was something or someone she'd never come in contact with before. 

__

Oh great, she thought, _just what my life's story needs…ANOTHER plot twist!_

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*Thanks for reading, as always, and please review. I'm so close to the end of this story I can taste it! LOL, my sanity's nearing an end too. O_o *


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